Na Po Wri Mo – April 16 2023

I am back on prompt today with the challenge to write a poem of negation – one that involves describing something in terms of what it is not, or not like.

The Unknown

It’s not falling into a black abyss 

or the red mouth of a hungry bear,

nor an ice slice between 

your shoulder blades.

It does not even resemble 

the peeling away, layer by layer 

of your skin or the slow, gentle

degeneration of your heart.

Never before has anything 

felt quite as exquisite as this.

When at last the evening comes, 

and you are ready, it will encircle 

your form like your first shawl.

And when it’s all over,

you will be amazed 

and wonder what it was

you were so afraid of.