I'm pretty sure
That if my inner self
Was a flesh and blood child
I'd be taken away from myself
The verbal and sometimes physical
Abuse that I have inflicted on myself
Over the years
Is anything but gentle
Love yourself, they say
I am hard pressed
Even to like myself
I've become slightly better at it
In my middle years
Nobody deserves the cruelty my inner self endures at my own hand
Not even me.
~Blooming Psycho~
Hmm. I don't think you deserve such treatment. As the prompt says, be gentle on yourself.
ReplyDeleteThis is clever in that it scorns self abuse, then delivers a self abusive line to close, albeit passive aggressively, instinctively... "Not even me."
ReplyDeleteI like :D x
http://iurl.no/7c054
Awesome. The analogy of the inner child being abused is powerful.
ReplyDeleteI love that last stanza. Actually the whole piece is really quitegood but the last stanza really speaks to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your kind words! :-)
ReplyDeleteI am a work in progress.
The opening stanza really caught me...unexpected, drastic. As for gentility, I think we're all hardest on ourselves. I like the ending...which is both gentle and not. The realization (in the poem) is that the inner self doesn't deserve the abuse but the phrase "not even me" still has some of that negative self-abuse in there.
ReplyDeleteIt really does capture that complex love/hate relationship we sometimes have with ourselves. Very nice.
Yes, who needs enemies with the abusers we have in our own heads. This poem grabbed my attention and didn't let go until the end. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI think your poem speaks for many of us who have battled with self-abusive behaviors, both physically and mentally. I love the conclusion you come to with this - that no one deserves it, not even me. Beautiful job!
ReplyDeleteThis lovely poem speaks to me! May we all be gentler to ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to this. My first thought when I read the prompt was how NOT gentle I have been in the past. Keep the faith, find your worthiness, everything you need you already have :)
ReplyDeleteBrutally honest and those last lines cut through.
ReplyDeleteI want to thank everyone on behalf of Bloomy for your your kind comments. I know that when she is able to read them, she will surely appreciate them!
ReplyDelete