Prompt 28: Defenses Down

Thanks to Nicole Nicholson of Raven's Wing Poetry for this week's prompt, defenses down and for this wonderful poem:

WALLS

I drank to soften nerves that were
cutting me like unseen knives

at that party, amidst strangers
scared of the face in the mirror

the goody two-shoes, the freak
encased in stone

the stranger

I drank to plow down walls
constructed by a suspicious
upbringing and moral lessons
pounded into a mind

that grabbed onto concepts, oughts,
and shoulds with iron teeth
and pounded them into my flesh

until metal facades were
indistinguishable from my own skin

I tried to drown my walls
in a sea of beer, peach Schnapps,
something faintly tasting like blackberries,
and whatever else I could get
my hands on that night

and my walls, oh my walls

they melted until my eyes
couldn't see straight
and I watched the party ensue
through alcoholic glasses

then she came

she charged into my garden
and stole my fruit

the gate would have stopped her

but it had been washed away
in the stinky fermented tide
of the last beer I downed
before my head began to swim

this is not how walls
should tumble down
a gate washed out to sea
can never be searched and found
in time to stop invading armies
from stealing your treasure

and I guarded mine
for years after that party
behind iron gates harder
than diamonds

and I still hesitate sometimes
to give it away
to the one who deserves it the most

Image: Deviant Art

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