ichor

9.19.16

i threw the first punch
and was shocked & terrified
but you looked up, a wild gleam
in your eyes, and begged,
"again."
blood dripped off your bow, pooled on your lip.
"i don't want to," i whisper. i didn't. i didn't want to see your face, bloody and broken.
i didn't want to know what i was doing.
your eyes narrow. you're used to people stepping on you, beating you up, using you.
you step back. the dirt crushes between your soles, separates beneath your feet.
"why?"
a crowd has formed. they egg us on, a seemingly continuous chant of fight fight fight fight fight

until you step back again. crazed,
i launch myself at you. we fall to the ground, a mess of laughing and crying and youth and,
it doesn't matter. we are not weak.
we are strong. we are gods, you and i. we lie, swallowed
by the earth, by each other, by the heaving of our chests and our breaths in our throats.
the blood pours from your nose,
a river of reminders, letting me know what i'd done.
that is what i'd done. i'm
exactly like them all, everyone who
beat you and bruised you and used you,
i'm just like them all.
i brush my knuckles across my face,
leaving a path of red under my nose.
we match, we
both have scars from this civil war. the bloodshed is disappointing to some, victorious
to us.
we are gods, we have won.

Author's Note

i'm not sure if this is a poem? it doubles as a story + a poem i guess?? but here's this

Reviews

[Esther]

Poems tell a story, so I'd say this counts as one. Nice work :) I really like this.

Favorite part is:

"i launch myself at you. we fall to the ground, a mess of laughing and crying and youth and,
it doesn't matter. we are not weak.
we are strong. we are gods, you and i. we lie, swallowed
by the earth, by each other, by the heaving of our chests and our breaths in our throats"

I dunno, I just really liked that part. Also I think you may have misspelled "brow" in the beginning? Anyway nice work!!

[boyearth]

thank you! that's my favorite part too, haha. also, sorry for the late reply + confusion!! i meant for that to be spelled bow, but for it to refer to the cupid's bow, like the little dip above the upper lip.

[Esther]

Oh, okay! :) Sorry about that

[boyearth]

no, it's fine, don't worry!