Imprisoned by the Imagined

image0 2
Source: Pinterest


Scabrous; talons, fangs and prongs

Beautiful, fabled though it were not 

Colossal, it was that which i wish hadn’t espied

Mutinous, cunning, sardonic and free; not me, not freed  

Tenanted in the deeper pits of my being 

Muddled, only I could hear its hiss 

Clawed into my bones, forked into my flesh

Creeped further; my defenses stripped bare

Guzzled until I was threadbare; slinked up my spine

Coiled around the vertebrae, eroded my joints

Licked up a meter, tasted the salt 

A crackle would resound, I’d been sure

Took and took until my stores depleted 

The green beneath my skin would be punctured next

Sucked the red and all that it held

When I paled, all around me beheld 

And just when all had been gobbled and I’d been allowed to rest

It would slither up and tug at my chest

A claw hooked into a lung each, my breath was in its tusks’ reach

Curled around a rib, I’d anticipate talons ripping at my heart’s seams 


Anushree Lad

Through this poem, Anushree hopes to convey the horrors of living with an eating disorder, its unflinching hold on her and how others view her. The crippling fear of being jeopardised, feeling helpless and inadequate has marred her self-image. It has shrunk her into a droplet of water deluged by the existence of a dragon (the eating disorder being written about here) whose immensity she has made up in the poem.

WhatsApp
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Related Articles

Stories Inside

Stories Inside 

How many of you have unwritten books inside? Did you ever imagine a moment from your life to start a

Respite artwork

Respite

I write to feel a little or to feel a little less. Waiting for the chaos to settle down, standing

Scroll to Top