Mine enemy

All around me lies

   All around me lies

    provocation's prick 

in deafening silences,

   the evocation of

        old memories 

  as life rambles on,

like a freak show

  purging impurities in

  wild abandon's rhythm

on the precipice

    of great peril

 within delusion's face,

      it fornicates anything 

        resembling sanity

what is this perusal's power

     that exalts itself,

  left behind to tremble

         at pithy feet,

engulfing every

 breathless intention,

  raking over any

        normality of 

          rhyme's  existence 

how to  fight these

 outposts of disparity,

   whilst inequality's

 dissatisfaction chimes

       its vocal chants, 

can't be attuned 

within hostile prejudice 

            nor pressured walls

   can one stand 

a chance

 at redemption

             or resurgence,

   when that inner 

disparaging

voice sabotaging 

 utmost scrutiny's

reflection,

 is really mine own 

                 

Author's Note

Reviews

[redflutterby]

Hmmm...feels like you were peeking inside my head. Ugly place in there...full of some dark corners and really negative crap. My own worst enemy lives there too...always has. Sigh...now if I could just stop listening to her voice long enough to get the hell back on track. Pfftttt...x

[Frieda P]

Yes, but only for a moment, it was like Oz on an acid trip. haha ;) You are getting back on track Red, takes time after what you've gone through...x

[emmajoy]

Says the words, 'Healer heal yourself..' You, dear friend, are a kind of healer, always ready to share a few kind words, an armful of empathy.. and help people to feel more human than they have. But meantime, my luverly, you forget one very important human being.. self,Frieda. Seems you hold your sadnesses cos you don't have time to dilute them - or better still - let them evaporate into good clean air. Meantime, you carry them all like Atlas carried the world - ' .. how to fight these outposts of disparity, .. whilst inequality's dissatisfaction chimes its vocal chants, .. '

.. and sad, sad, it is, that from and with all that.. your poetry weeps as it has above. Heartbreaking this, ' the evocation of old memories .. as life rambles on, like a freak show .. purging impurities ..'

Picture in my mind right now is when a dog nibbles at that wotsit flea in its hair, works and works at it.. deliberately, painstakingly and... then.. time after.. seconds, minutes..it's fine, relaxed, lying back, staring at the ceiling.. dog.tired maybe (!) but cured. Maybe a cure till next time but a cure for now to lighten the load you so movingly share..

[Frieda P]

Your words always make me smile petulia, those pesky bloodsucking fleas, now I know what the wotsit the problem is...why didn't you tell me this earlier? :) Thanks muchly for your sentiments.

[emmajoy]

Not meant to be crass or lacking in feeling.. anything but.. you know that. I hope

[Frieda P]

Never, you...never. Just made me smile, as you always do sweet friend.

[wordman]

but where would we be without it who could we blame for our sins
who would test us or make us test our selves

[Frieda P]

Good question, no answers....thanks Ron.

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

Lots of emotion trailing around in this well written poem! i love the style in which it was written!

[Frieda P]

Thanks so much imagination!

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

You are welcome!

[Matching Socks]

Just put some duct tape on that inner voice and tell it to s**t the frig up.
Outer voice is loud and proud, go with that one.

[Frieda P]

Sound advice, you took my duct tape. :)

[Matching Socks]

You can have it back anytime. :)

[MomzillaNC]

I think we're all haunted by the me I should be syndrome. Everywhere is the message that we're not smart enough, thin enough, tall enough, fast enough, rich enough… just not enough. It's no wonder we look in the mirror and see reflected back… just… not enough. Overcoming that impulse is always a struggle.

[Frieda P]

Ain't that the truth, thanks so much.

[MomzillaNC]

You're very welcome.

[R Smith]

I would say fantastic poem lots of anger and loathing aimed somewhere, i'd notice it all but i'm to busy looking in the mirror.....God that's a terrible thing to see.....oh wait! its me looking back at me and it aint great, that's what I call a real enemy.....me!

[Frieda P]

We all have those reflections sometimes, I just don't look, problem solved. ;)

[AprilRN1210]

The mood I am in this morning, I am loving this song... why in this freakshow of life do I expect people to be any different than what they prove themselves to be, and why do I still feel surprised when they show their true colors?.. "they" say we are our own worst enemy, but when others hurt me the way they do, I have to disagree.... this is another powerful write.. and while i agree those demons haunt, they hold us back, they are still not worse than the damage others cause... (hugs)) ma'am... love this song btw, never heard it before...

[Frieda P]

I hear you, but that's what usually flips the switch to those voices in my own head, happens when you belong to the I Never Learn Club, and I'm usually President. What's that Maya Angelou quote...

“When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time.” Yeah, that....! Thanks so much April....

[kublakhan27]

How to fight these outposts of disparity...a good question love, and I sure wish I had the answer...your words always speak to me, but lately I've really been dialed in to the emotions you've been presenting...it hasn't been an overly great stretch for me lately, and you just happen to be writing things that really mirror how I've been feeling...old memories, life rambling on like a freak show...I hear you Mrs.R...and then there is the final stanza which is still rolling around in my head, I've read it a few times now and it almost has me in tears...I must really be in sensitive mode today...are we all our own worst enemy I wonder, and are some better at masking it, or are some people really just better at maintaining inner peace than others? I must have mentioned this quote from Robert Plant before: I don't think happiness is a permanent state, it's just a sort of treaty you sign with your emotions at the time...yes, there is much more to this guy than the tight pants...he's a hell of a lot smarter than people give him credit for...I must admit that 'provocation's prick' got a giggle out of me, but it was snuffed out almost as quick as it arrived by the deafening silences in the very next line...I started with a giggle, and ended with damp eyes...yes, this one spoke to me Mrs.R...it was like looking in the mirror, and I'm not as good-looking as you are...are you smiling? ;) xo

[Frieda P]

You KNOW I'm smiling, like a Cheshire cat, you always bring a smile to my poetic heart. I love that quote, and I think it's spot on, I don't think you're the only one that can relate, as you've noted, some of us mask it better than others. Doing the happy dance. ;) xo

[NoelHC]

We are often our own worst critic, and may stifle ourselves in the process. Well penned Lady Frieda, I owe you a poem, but haven't had the time to finish it yet.

[Frieda P]

So very true....Yes, I've been waiting impatiently I might add, get a move on will ya? :)

[Lyn Anderson]

Wow wow wow. I was waiting for this one and then it snuck up on me. Instant goosebumps, the anger in this poem literally reaches out and grabs the reader by the (insert preferred body part here) really, Frieda, when you write like this it is breath taking, gob smackingly good. Whew, did I say I liked it? Now, to check it over for ...:) NOPE, no flaws, not a one. Although the cafe' decided to screw with your fonts in the middle. Usually, I have to delete it to fix it. I don't get that glitch, not at all, and you would think they would know not to mess with you, sheesh ...

[Frieda P]

Wooo three wow's, I'm tickled! You've made my morning sista dragon! ;) I'm waiting with bated breath....haha