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Category: Writing and Poetry

Catechism of Bruises

She strikes and I shimmer, she speaks and I shake,

my ribs a cathedral, her fists my earthquake.

I kneel in the marrow, all glitter and grime,

singing her mercy in meter and rhyme.


Her laughter an anvil, her silence a psalm,

her touch is disorder disguised as calm.

She calls me pathetic, I call it divine,

her scorn is the sacrament, bitter as wine.


I beg for her cruelty, crave to be kept,

a worship that whimpers, a prayer that wept.

She bruises in patterns, I study each mark,

the gospel of knuckles impressed in the dark.


Each welt is a word, each wound a decree,

a sermon of muscle recited through me.

She writes with her hands, and I try to atone,

for sins I invented, to make her my own.


O goddess unholy, O gospel of pain,

I press to your shadow again and again.

Your voice is a verdict, your breath is a bell,

I’d follow its toll to the mouth of hell.


You bruise me in colors I cannot pronounce,

your pity a poison, dispensed by the ounce.

I swallow it gladly, I choke and I grin,

a disciple of damage, baptized in sin.


Let me be broken, reshaped by your art,

a relic of fever, a spine torn apart.

If worship offends you, then call it disease,

I’ll cough up devotion and fall to my knees.


You batter, I blossom; you spit, I adore,

each insult an anthem, I’m begging for more.

You bruise me to language, you brand me to song,

O goddess of apathy, where did I go wrong?


Still I rise in your ruin, delirious, blessed,

your name in my throat, your weight on my chest.

If holiness hurts, then I’m halfway to grace,

teach me your scripture across my face.


And if you should tire of my trembling plea,

unmake me completely, set me unfree.

Let flesh be confession, let bone be the proof-

I built you an altar, and made it my roof.


In pain, I am fluent; in worship, obscene,

your cruelty glows where my soul has been.

So strike once more, goddess, and make me aware.

I live in the wound, and you are the prayer.




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jakalope_

jakalope_'s profile picture

this is sick, very well made. this inspired me to post a poem i wrote a long time ago that this reminded me of


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I'm glad I could inspire you (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)

by soupferret; ; Report

Mushi

Mushi's profile picture

I feel like I am witnessing something I shouldn't


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not_ian

not_ian's profile picture

i am... speechless. [not exactly, since i am writing this, but you get the idea.] i fear this poem holds far more depth than what i’ve understood. you managed to share, to translate a glimpse of your soul in such a beautiful and profound metaphoric manner that i feel like i should ask for permission to read it


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I am so glad to hear this,, You don't know how happy this makes me1!! I read most of your blogs and very much enjoy your writing, so thank you very much1!! ٩(^ᗜ^ )و ´-

by soupferret; ; Report