EpigraMarch is a (yearly?) poetry challenge à la Inktober, started by me to replace what poet Savannah Brown used to call Escapril. It consisted of a list of prompts, one for each day in March, for which a poem will have to be written. Prompts are revealed one at a time on the day on which they are due. Post your submissions anywhere under the epigramarch tag to encourage participation and message me at telomagnetics@protonmail.com if you want a link to your submissions on this site. The following pieces were submitted by one such participant and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of ouroboros.cafe.
I find myself often out of place In fleeting little moments Context wells up in my throat And casts me back to old spaces Their impressions burnt into the back of my mind From constant plays and replays Reviling in times of comfort Dwelling on moments of fear Bodily sense memory Shaped by where I was
You always wanted to rewatch the same movies Familiar faces feel safe When the world outside has been so punishing It always looked like retreating Looking for something new takes vulnerability Vulnerability was hard for you When I tried to pull it out of you, you pushed away The reflex made sense After having precious, delicate things ripped away Any pull can feel malicious
Hanging from a single wire Shifting shadows round the room As it pendulates to and fro Concrete cracks Filled with untold darkness Would devour this lonely place If not for the incandescent splendor Of that perfectly delicate glass bauble I sit here, praying By the light of my luminous savior That I may one day see the sun again But until I find some egress This bauble on a wire will have to be enough
Don't give up, oh, don't give up Now's your chance to test your luck Come on down and don't be shy You have a look of hope in your eye Take a shot at my special game Those who succeed win wealth and fame Those who lose feel nothing but pain But never fear, never fear You have the look of a winner, my dear Come, come, sit down Play with me a round And take freedom by the reigns
All gravity is, really, is objects having empathy for each others scale When planets spin around stars, moons spin around planets, rocks spin around moons, specks of dust spin around rocks Its all an expression of understanding An unspoken universal affirmation You are here I am compelled by you By your mere existence I wish people could be like that too
Being gendered is something I resist I would rather be treated like myself Be treated like a person Than have presumptions asserted on my mind and body I hate all this hair on my face It's not what I look like I didn't look like this before All those years ago, before things changed for the worse I used to look like something else If someone has to assume something I'd want them to assume that I am kind and caring The hair hair on my face gets in the way of that To get rid of it would cost a lot of money Money that I don't have Pretty clothes can help Sometimes Other times they make things worse