Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Jul 2022
Sometimes I think that my depression has me in a chokehold so
I pull off its mask only to find that it's been rage with no place to go

Where do you put rage that sneaks up on you?

Do you put it in a flowerpot only to wilt the calla lilies that it touches?
Do you put it in a collar and leash only for it to lunge at the first stranger to approach too quickly?
Do you hold it between your teeth so that it slowly dissolves on your own tongue until every strawberry tastes like grape leaves?

Maybe I'll just file it away
   on the top shelf where I keep my winter coats in Texas.
Then, years from now, when I pack up to move to the mountains, it will topple over and smother me.
Maybe then I'll finally leave it behind
   in the pile of things too broken to donate to Goodwill.
prompted by On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Caroline Stradley
Written by
Caroline Stradley  26/F/Austin, TX
(26/F/Austin, TX)   
1.2k
 
Please log in to view and add comments on poems