The Tower
Shuffle, shuffle, smooth my energy over cards
“Am I betraying myself on this path I walk?”
Am I allowed to be an innocent, happy thing?
When God, I am so scared
it makes me wish I was religious
Then there would be a place
to put hellfire and damnation
the story of this lustrous girl dethroned
all her lovely friends smoked out of—
XVI: THE TOWER.
I do not know tarot but I know
waking up cold at the image
of butterfly effect-ing my way
into a cave that collapses
a man that takes my womb
and a job that takes my will to live
I have always been a queen of dreams
I have this picture in my head
of a little purple house, a black cat
a full table of hearty orange stew
a door mat framed by familiar shoes
I fear I couldn’t accept anything less
Somewhere between
the magic eight ball in my mom’s desk
the paw prints cemented in the sidewalk
the endless disorder of the universe
I will find it
How lovely it is to live in a place I can fall from.
2 thoughts on "The Tower"
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This is a gorgeous and riveting poem. I *do* know tarot so perhaps it spoke to me through that lens, but the detail and the tone are so complex and beautiful. I feel like I need to read it several more times!
I’m going to watch for all your poetry this month!
I’ve written and read hundreds of tarot-inspired poems and this is so finely book-ended and authentic about the abilities of the speaker.
Wow! You build empathy and you showcase your confidence in yourself.
Then that stanza with that glimpse of Mom, and the promise of a cat, even if they’re in the past.
Having poet envy. 😉
YAY!!!