Afterlife

This poem is not about death.....

They found my body and dragged it across the desert;

The sand gnawed my unwanted flesh,

Until I was a skeleton with no face.

Years passed before we reached the city.

I remember how frightened I was,

When they set my dry bones in an empty room

With a cold tile floor.

It was at once too dark and too bright.

I could barely make out their shadowy figures,

All at once they crowded round me.

Their voices were loud,

Or their voice,

I couldn’t tell if there were many or only one.

When I saw the teeth of the blade

I tried to scream,

But I had no mouth.

Then I saw what they were doing.

As they passed the blade,

Each carefully sawed a piece of their own flesh.

Then, with all the tenderness of my mother,

They sewed their sacrificial meat to my bones.

When I healed I looked exactly like them,

And sounded like them,

And moved with them.

But there are still marks,

Stitches,

And when I look hard enough at the cracks,

I can almost see my own face.

Reviews

[Matthew Kult]

Hello Molly,

Oh my head hurts...so I read this twice and yet I still think I have no clue, although I do agree with Mariska. I could see school, any organized religion, authority through and through.

The writing was fantastic, and even with being confused was a very enjoyable read. I do hope you mail me and atleast give me your thoughts. I would appreciate it.

Regards,

Matthew

[gravitylava]

I really like this. The imagery is like f*****g boom!, right in your face, which makes the poem 8,000 times better. It's sad because it is true, but it's also happy because despite human nature being a load of bullshit, we still find it in ourselves to sew someone up, even if we're probably just contributing to crap. nice job!

[Ashley Myers]

difficult to understand the first time around but after piecing it together a few times i have to admit it IS pretty twisted. but in a good way. kind creepy, but you have talant

[joewade]

Wow! Thank you for that great poetry. I think you set the bar for me. I am interpreting this as a philosophical statement about losing identity in this world.

[Steve]

Holy crap! This is amazing!

[Anicca]

This was a very twisted piece of writing, you wrote something that even managed to creep me out and for that I applaud you, it seldom happens!!
'Until I was a skeleton with no face' - this was a lovely line about stolen identity, no identity, nameless people etc etc.
'I tried to scream, but I had no mouth' was also such a wonderful wonderful line, the image in my head when I read that was really quite haunting.
And then the end 'I can almost see my own face' leaves the reader with a sense of hope which is always nice after reading something so horrific and sinister.
Thank you very much for sharing this piece of magnificence, I love the way your mind works.

[YouoweYoupay]

I don't really get the point behind this write, but the description of the skeletal narator was really good, with an attractive beginning. thanks for sharing.

-Wella.

[Cliff Rhodes]

How unique and brilliant this is! I have never thought of something so graphic in this way before. Yet, it is a reality of our own experiences, whether we think we are so excellent or not that the sacrifices of others are forced into our psyche. Maybe we don't even want it and prefer to be dry bones, but it is still there with telltale evidence of the scars. This "Afterlife" piece could represent a multitude of different symbolic interpretations.

[...]

. one of my profs once took a currency note ... a brand new one ... and asked me what its value was ... i answered correctly ... then he stamped it ... crumpled it ... dirtied it ... and asked me again ... my answer was the same ... no matter what the experiences ... the value of a soul doesn't change ... in time ... it'll assert itself ... for it has power ... your words are evidence of that ... your power ...

[Kristopher]

I see religion, authority, goverment, society, and humanity controlling a person who barely knows who they are amidst the mass of everyone else.

[Inkedd]

This was amazing! Definitely not an ending I expected (: I loved the way you worded things, truly an amazing piece of work. I especially loved the last four lines(: Beautifully done.

Loved it,
♥ Kass