A Prayer For Your Calcination
a poem
When the tinder of your old life is sparking,
I pray it singes and curls for you like desiccated hay.
I pray you are not waiting on tendrils
steaming off of some punky log left out to winter.
I pray you feed it.
Feed it with the oil
that has composted in the secret soil
of your buried discontent.
Make kindling of those paper scripts, smudged
at all corners by your own thumbprints:
justifications of what you had but didn't want,
doubts over what you want and still don't have,
everything you said but didn't mean—
yes, even the lies you spoke to fortify
the prison of your safety.
The tinder of your old life is sparking,
God, feed it!
Feed it with those too-small shoes
you wore for a role that is no longer you,
every letter stamped by someone else's approval,
the thin pages of the moralistic fairy tales
you grew up reading,
until the ember bed is orange and licking
at all your should's, mustn't's, and can't's.
And if the fire is still hungry,
it could be that what you once loved,
what you may love still,
is wooden.
The tinder of your old life is sparking.
You might fall to your knees
before the home that is burning,
but darling, feed it.
Feed it with the sacrifices you would've made
again and again if given the chance,
with your poems and photographs,
the effigies you whittled with your nimble hands
for the idols whose words have hollowed.
Sit for a beat.
Sweat, and chew on your why's?,
but when you are full-up with questions
toss them in, too.
Let the flames grow questionably tall,
for the wind quiets its whistling.
Somewhere, rain clouds are gathering.
It's only weather.
Comments (19)
Thought-provoking and beautifully crafted! Kudos on your win 🎉
Absolutely gorgeous, Morgana! Congratulations on this beautiful win, and of course, top story!🌹
Viscerally a work of art! Congrats on your win
Wonderful. Congratulations. ✨
Congratulations! Great job 👏.
This is beyond 🙌🏽✨I’m obsessed with every word—and that last line was just💥🔥 Congrats on a very well deserved win, Morgana! 🩷
Congratulations on your win! 🎉
I adore this.
Nice! Congrats on the win! :)
Congratulations! This is remarkable.
Wooohooooo congratulations on your win! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Wonderful win Morgana! Poignant piece. Looking forward to reading more! From everyone!
Fantastic! Congratulations on a well-deserved win!
🔥So good. 💕Congratulations on top story! 🙏🤍🕊️
Oh my goodness, this was incredible. Made me tear up a little. I’m so sure that everyone that reads this will have needed to read this, and that’s how you know a written work like this is so important. I’m starstruck, truly—this was phenomenal.
It is nice
Ooof! Nailed it! I can actually visualise you conjuring these lines... an incantation burning into the page. 🔥
Brilliant use of poetry to evoke purification, Morgana. If I were to list all of my favorite lines, I would have to paste your entire poem into my comments. And that is a little too lazy, even for me. As a fellow who has also fed those same flames, I recognize the voice of one who has done the same, probably many, many times. It is hard for me to imagine a better answer to the challenge prompt than this poem. I hope it places high.
Oh I'm so glad I was on when you posted this. Just a joy to read with surprising lines that unfold in a such a lovely way. You also put some nice surprises in there "...but darling, feed it." caught me off guard in the best way. Really nicely done!