Category: Poetry

If I succumb now 
It’ll prove something about the world 
That I don’t want to be true, 
That I won’t wish into truth. 

So I stay kicking,
Against the tangled sea weed
Pulling me down
By the ankles 
To the ocean floor. 
I keep my face 
Above the broken surface 
Knowing that my legs, 
Human and weak,
Must fail me eventually, 
And that my breath 
Won’t hold out forever 
And that I must keep fighting for another second 
And then another more 
For if I succumb now
I will never see light again.

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil 

Broke open. 
And though that cold stone 
Turned to flesh 
It now aches
In a way 
I don’t know how to heal 
And guilt fills 
Where apathy rested 
Where love should grow
And I go mad 
With remorse. 
Irredeemably? 

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil 

And warm, 

Who makes you feel safe, 

And realize, 

That you’re not quite as patient 

As you should be, 

And fills you with guilt,

For your wrongs, 

In a way

That only the innocent can.

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil 

Just by willing it, 
And refusing to accept “no”
As the final answer.

Keep digging, 
And once you hit the molten core, 
And your shovel melts, 
Let yourself melt with it, 
And become part of something bigger.

Or cease to be.
Either way, you haven’t settled for “no.”

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil

The anger protects you.
So you’re reluctant to let it go.

Stay angry, if you dare.

Or let down that shield, 
And let fear take a stab. 
What have you to lose? 
Pride? 
Ha!

That thin film that clings to your face, 
Stopping breath.

Just stop.

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil

Here for you today, 
But not for you, 
For you, 
Unlike it, 
Aren’t forever. 

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil

Perhaps you shouldn’t be talking 
to so many big kids. 

But you spoke,
Talked in circles 
Keep spinning, kid.

Coaxing the eye of the beholder 
to focus on all that’s beautiful, 
And only that. 

Or misstep 
And lose limb and life.

You’re already dead anyway.
It’s only a matter of time
before you realize it.

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil

Supported by the air, 
With no ground beneath me, 
Flying like it’s my birthright. 

I wonder how badly it’ll hurt, 
When the breeze stills, 
And the ground I’ve learned to ignore, 
Catches my fragile form.

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil

Fanged tooth girl, 
That they call Red, 
Not so little,
When you loomed over Wolf. 

Will you be wearing his fur, 
As you wait for the huntsman? 
That chivalrous fool, 
Who thinks you need rescuing. 

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil

I sat down on the dirt because my body was getting tired.

“Set up camp.” 

So I did, just for the night.

“You call that a tent?”

It was supposed to be temporary.

“You can’t raise a family in a tent.” 

I look ahead, seeing the horizon get further away. 

“That’s not for you. You have your tent. Now make it home.” 

This was never supposed to be home. Not a haven. Just happenstance. 

All rights reserved © 2024 Josephine Joyil