Seed Eater

She wishes to know if I am oh-kay,
if I am doing well, smiling over the rim of a tea-cup like jackals with secrets.
Persephone gets caught in my teeth
every time I think of some answer.
Trapped in rows of off-white winter bone,
she wriggles around in my old lady gums,
cursing, shouting, kicking--
our mouths are epic ballads of lies in the name of not-worrying-anyone.
Then they worry us to death.

The Hades made out of all of our lies:
Everything's great! We're all great! Everyone is fine!
keeps pulling her back down into the earth of my heart.
Where no one knows I have eaten a seed of myself.

Demeter, howling for her lost child dies,
like a dove crushed in cruel child's hand.

Reviews

[Noah Youngson]

The figurative language in this poem is fantastic--the personification, metaphors, etc. I am personally a fan of Greek mythology so I enjoyed the references also. The personification of self-deceit is amazing, and incredibly accurate in a dramatic way, which tends to really put it into perspective compared to just the words of "lying to yourself." From that, I enjoyed the way in which you applied this myth to humans, which is how they should be used and why they exist. The subtle elegance of the poem is what really caps it off as well.

[Herl Rodrin]

Very well written. I like the part where in you're able to include Demeter on the last part. Keep it on writing awesome poems!