Inklings Youth Advisory Board Writers Group: Kaitlyn Penchina
This summer our Inklings Youth Advisory Board Writers Group chose a topic to write about. The goal of this project is for us to stretch ourselves to explore new topics and formats in our writing, share our work with others, be open to feedback, and enjoy collaborating with other writers. The theme is Shadows. Enjoy reading!
Leave a comment below on what you thought!
Shadows
by Kaitlyn Penchina
This isn’t my quick fix, my first kiss, my star-crossed crucifix
This is your old tricks, those small slips, now those I do not miss
You’re an inner demon, trying to get your foot in, trying to begin
To make me sin like I did back then, but I’m not who I’ve been
You can no longer inspire that all-consuming fire, set me up on a pyre
Try it and I’ll go haywire, the situation’s dire, we both know you’re a liar
You can’t “help” me, “shelter” me, pelt me with words mercilessly
Your help isn’t helping me, can’t you see that you’re hurting me?
You set me on fire before this, now I’m a phoenix, a living myth
Or at least this seemed mythic when you told me my only gift
Was the spark inside of me, that mark you wanted to tear apart
That part of me that wouldn’t depart, my Noah on his ark
The flood came, the shame came, I couldn’t live up to my own name
But the raindrops remained even after the pain I’d sustained
So you can’t come to this church and hum your verse about me no more
Because my world is crashing with waves and sea storms
And I am not a shadow of that blaze I once was
I am at the bottom of the ocean, on my throne
And when people ask me, I tell them I’m finally home
