Halved


Grief ate half my heart.
Rage consumed half what was left.
What remains of me?

Song Choice: She Used to Be Mine from the play Waitress, performed by Sarah Bareillis 

Photo by Karim MANJRA on Unsplash
This poem was created for Imaginary Gardens With Real Toad's prompt, Just One Word: Halved.

44 comments:

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    1. I'm glad I was able to have that impact in so brief a space.

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  2. mmmmm. It says so much with so little. Love it.

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  3. Such a concise and perceptive piece

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  4. Whatever remains is the strongest half.

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  5. I feel as if I've just entered the tale of the monster in a fairy tale--a captivating poem.

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    1. Yes, that is absolutely one way to see it. When I finished writing it, I was fascinated by how such a small piece can hold so many shadow-filled facets.

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  6. What remains of me? I hope pieces of hope to once again beat with the life of a full heart.

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    1. Hope is a marvelously cagey thing, surviving in places where one would expect it to shrivel away.

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  7. Some philosophical inquiries must be answer by more of the same, I think: Are we the sum of our parts? Can energy be destroyed? Where do spaces and hollows go?

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    1. Yes, this is a piece that definitely was meant to invite questions.

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  8. Great poem, makes readers think.

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    1. I will count that as a win. Thank you Jamztoma.

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  9. Grief has the upper hand, with me. The brevity really works, in this poem. Sometimes all the words in the world wont fix all the horrors.

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    1. I think many share the same feeling of being overwhelmed by grief.

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    1. Yes, for both the questions and answers it suggests.

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  11. I love that it ends on the question. One of despair but at the same time suggesting room for possibility, even though possibility is a hard pill to swallow in such moments of grief.

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    1. I always like to believe in the possibility of good change, even in the worst of situations.

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  12. You express what I'm feeling so succinctly. I wish I had written this.

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  13. It's a riddle: The answer could be nothing--or all of you, everything. The halves taken away were durations, distortions, obstacles in the great and changing path of the heart. Sad song.

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    1. Yes, to all of that. I definitely wanted the feel of a riddle.

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  14. This is awesome! I often refer to that which is distressing my mind, as 'chewing me up' … thus, your senryu gives me pause. Grief and rage do take so much out of a person, and you have encapsulated that so powerful - and yet so succinctly, here.

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    1. Thank you Wendy. I was very pleased with how well the form worked for what I wanted to express.

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  15. You'll have to grow a new heart. A lot depends on your capacity for healing.
    ..

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    1. As much as there is a lot of awful in the world, yes, this. I think a heart can grow again. I believe in healing, even though it isn't easy.

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  16. I think time will tell. Grief and rage often pair up. I have felt exactly this way.

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    1. I'm sorry that you have. But it does feel like this condition has become an epidemic lately. And no vaccine has been created yet.

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  17. Grief and rage leave a dangerous void- bound to be filled by anything. A succinct write.

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