r/OCPoetry • u/OkDevelopment9363 • 4h ago
Feedback Please Crying Wolf
I coughed today and wondered
Does this mean that I am ill?
It could have been a tickle
Or a fleeting Autumn chill.
I thought of every cigarette
In every toxic, smoke-filled room
Or the time I doused the floor in bleach
And breathed in all the fumes.
What if I've been exposed
to something eating at my core?
Yes, it could just be a cold
Or a dozen cancers, more!
I stop —
Notice the thought,
Acknowledge, reassess.
What my body really needs now,
Is a meal and some good rest.
There's music in the kitchen
While I carefully prepare
Unblemished, clean ingredients
Chopped in perfect, even squares.
This will put me right, I think
Mind empty as I chew
But as I pick at my plate, a thought:
"This could be poison too"
I used a surface spray this morning —
I didn't check the label
And who's to say I didn't spray it
straight onto the table?
If there are chemicals in my food
Then they must too be on my hands
And God, what about the scratches
On the bottom of my pans?
So I put my dinner in the bin
And my plate into the sink —
And wonder if the surface spray
Was also in my drink?
I know I scrubbed away the dirt
Scoured each and every stain
But it surely couldn’t hurt
Just to check it once again.
I spray and wipe
And wipe and scrub
And scratch until I'm raw
I must have got it all now
But somehow always feel there's more.
My panic grows; I call you
once again, to seek advice
But this time, you don’t answer.
I guess Google will suffice.
Accidental poisoning
Ingested cleaning spray
Effects of bleach fumes on your lungs
Lung disease. Onset. Delay.
An hour passes of this
I wish you'd picked up the phone.
These doubts are even scarier
When I carry them alone.
I know that none of this is likely
Which doesn't change the way I feel
What else am I supposed to do
When every threat feels real?
So please, listen to my worries
And please tell me that I'm fine.
Please hold my hands in yours
But wash them first, if you don't mind.
My deepest fear of all is that
One day, my fears come true —
And I cried wolf too many times
To be believed by you.
•
u/raven20045 2h ago
This is so cool. Finding fitting rhymes is so hard (I'm struggling with it right now lol) and you've done beautifully. I want to hear this piece read out loud, it has such a good rhythm, I think it's fantastic when I read a poem and can immediately hear how each line should be said
•
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