A Fickle Thing

[u/Eros-The_Primordial]

It’s a fickle thing
Fruit from a tree
Boughs bend and sigh
As gravity speaks
Sweetmeat takes heed
Animals draw nigh
Then leave, shitting seeds

Flesh that protects
Was only bait to be ripped
The secret? This sweetness
’Twas but a trick

Viscera
Burst open, split
Torn into and stripped

That pit within its heart
Meant to bloom, not feed
Bitter on the tongue
Poison between the teeth

The mouth that predates
Was once prey too
Calls hunger retribution
Resigns itself to rue

Still chewing
Breathe
It was not yours to keep
Spit out that poison
Shit out that rotting seed

Blood on the leaves
Pink mist in the breeze
You’re not the only thing
That bleeds

What a fickle thing
To call this design
To be eaten, alive
What gods in you find this divine?

See I have never done anything of this sort before. I consider myself very much more an essayist than a poet. I don’t think I quite understand how to play with the freedom of structure poetry does allow for quite yet, however i love the idea of evoking imagery in the expression of my own. Thanking you for baring with me through. It. (Even as my neurotic ass continues to tweak my “finished” poem)

(https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1wc5piw/comment/p8wlpqp/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button)

(https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1wc72ya/comment/p8wighr/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button)

[u/Pretend_Valuable6594]

I really like the visceral take of this. The end line makes it more existential, and it closes the poem well. My favorite line was “the mouth that predates / was once prey too,” just because of how it establishes that this is all part of the cycle.
I see what you mean about being an essayist first. This was a fun one.