Cravings

This poem is about the sharp memories you endure during the cravings imposed on you during narcotic withdrawal.

The other side of the window is

                           SOLID BLACK

thick midnight behind the

dirty pane of glass.

The moths there tapping and

twitching and crawling up the glass

        are my cravings.

Soft, hairy insect legs

tickling against my smooth transparent frame.

I can see the outline of my face,

      the lines shifting and unfolding, reconfiguring

      themselves. Disturbed apparition

in the poverty-yellow of a singed and blinking

         60-WATT bulb,

bare in its socket above,

the delicate filament

casting jaundiced light against

all the little streaks and specks grimed against the window.

The moths flutter and

    tick. thack.

    tick.

against the glass.

   CRAVINGS.

I can feel their black, beady eyes

twitching desperately, seeking a way around

        the pane of glass.

The tickle of their cilia legs.

silly legs. silly legs. silly legs!

I feel them in my bones.

I have to resist letting the windows open

    so they can singe their wings below the bulb.

From behind, a lover's fingers

    soft and comforting

      on the ball of my shoulder.

And that solitary, well-posed act of sympathy

breaks the fragile water in my eyes.

(Moth wings in my Adam's Apple.)

My hands absorb the tremors of my eyes

   and she helps me up the stairs to bed

     so I can lay beside her

       warm, breathing body

          her beating heart,

          soft, rhythmic breath

and feel the tickle of moth legs on glass,

craving the filthy light

of a repugnant 60-Watt bulb.

CRAVINGs.

CRAVINGs.

CRAVINGs.

            s. s. s. s. s. s.

Author's Note

the reason the last few lines are capitalized in this way are to display the overwhelming nature of cravings, the way they loom above the self, which is what the lower case s is supposed to represent, trailing off at the end, maybe seperated from the cravings, maybe just alone within them.

Reviews

[Riley Mistwood]

Very powerful read.

[Ghost of Jupiter]

loved this piece, probably because I can remember a time I could relate so sympathetically to this craving. Great imagery and emotion.

[.]

~ overwhelming... incredibly overwhelming... i haven't been through this intense an experience... but i can imagine what it must've been like... i loved the following lines a lot... so moving...

"And that solitary, well-posed act of sympathy
breaks the fragile water in my eyes."

[Ice QueenJen]

Wow, this one is great and I like how you contrast the moth with the touch from a lover. They both have cravings, not always satisfied like we would want them to turn out..... of course the moth dies once he gets his craving to be near the light.

The only thing I think that might need to be changed is adding more dots after each 's' as if they were trailing off into being nothing. But other than that a stellar writing you have composed.

[Larrycall]

creative. lots of big words i cant even spell