From childhood’s hour I have not been. As others were; I have not seen. As others saw; I could not bring. My passions from a common spring. Edgar Allan Poe
I wasn’t like the other kids, and I’m glad I wasn’t. It was my otherness that taught me empathy. It was my ability to not agree with what was being taught and preached to me that forced me to stand up for myself, even when that meant I might be ridiculed or shamed.
I am sharing a poem today written during adolescence in the hopes that you may be compelled to purchase your own copy of Hidden In Childhood, an anthology of amazing poets revealing their deepest traumas.
Anthology Description:
From authors featured on NPR, BBC, and the New York Times, and from emerging poets, comes a monumental anthology in which every poem sends shivers down your spine. Childhood’s joy and trauma expressed – with stunning talent and sincerity – by over 150 poets in more than 280 poems. Childhood spaces magnified by the human memory, populated by good and bad, by trips to hell and heaven, in an almost Hieronymus Bosch type of atmosphere. Over 150 voices call you to read this book. Read it. You will learn that childhood never goes away. You will be reminded of the beauty of the seraphim and the need to protect children from any form of abuse. 150 voices knock on your door. Open the door. A chorus of childhoods will tell you that our children need love.
Did I Hold Too Tight?
Did I hold to tight?
Wrapping the shadows of your feet?
Foraging towards your forbidden hieghts?
Struggling to grow
in the crevices of you?
To bend between your ancient thoughts,
To hide beneath ever-changing skin.
I am only inching
in your sunlight.
Clinging during downpours,
a sapling,
delicate and flat against you,
always twining you to me,
interlacing my needy grip
with your sturdy confidence.
For you,
tomorrow will exist,
but my brevity makes
me seasonal.
I’m always the vine,
but never the tree.
© 1998 | K.Hartless
Yard Sale of Thoughts 
E A Poe is my all time favorite and my favorite novelist’s (Stephen King) favorite poet. I really dig this!!
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Thank you, Jay. I am a huge fan as well. I have the unabridged Poe, and the suspense, the imagination, well, that’s what I am for in my own twisted tales. 💜💜
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I too.
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The word Twinining got me. It is the name of a tiny town in Michigan, and who today knows what Twine is? I love your first sentence, K, I was never like the other kids either. Your photo is lovely! ❤️
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Thank you, John. 💜I have reworked this poem but it was written during my adolescence. One of the few to survive. That photo shows off just how much hair I used to have. 🤣 why, it almost seems like a lifetime ago. Thank you for reading my posts.
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You are so welcome, K! I enjoy your website. I had hair down to my shoulders in the late 70s and into the early 80s. Today, I buzz my skull off every night with a professional quality electric razor. There isn’t much left and it’s gray. Time can be cruel, eh? 😬👍🏻😂
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Considering the maintenance of it long, perhaps kind. 🤣🤣💜
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Thanks! 😬❤️
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❤
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Fantastic news! ❤ Congratulations on getting it published & powerful vivid imagery here. Such a charming photo – you haven't aged a day! 🙂
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Oh, that last line. It speaks so loudly about that feeling of being intertwined but not quite part of what we perceive to be the bigger picture. I’ll check out the book. Thank you.
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A poem saved with so much perception. Congratulations again K . Look forward to reading it in this special book.
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You’re a master of the written word. Beautiful poem. Congrats on the publication. And oh, that yearbook/school photo!! (your hair is tdf, obvs – but also that beautiful fierce strength!) <33 xoxo
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