indurate soul—stone, steel, and bones. i
clash against your edges scouring
for empathy. but brine does
not drip from ironclad.
clay can’t recast from
splinter. soft things
callous or
they must
quit.
About the Creator
Kristen Balyeat
Words fly to me on the wind, bump into me as I'm strolling the city, splash me in the face while I rest by the river, and shake me awake in the middle of the night—I’m humbly one of the vessels they use to come to life.
Also, i love you:)
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Easy to read and follow
Well-structured & engaging content
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Eye opening
Niche topic & fresh perspectives
Masterful proofreading
Zero grammar & spelling mistakes
On-point and relevant
Writing reflected the title & theme
Keep reading
More stories from Kristen Balyeat and writers in Poets and other communities.
Comments (30)
I read it through several times and then I realized it was a break up poem. Scouring for empathy - Now I get it. I am just learning about nonet poetry. Nicely done!!
I had to read this more than a few times. The poetic language is so ripe. Understand it now and can’t believe it took me so long. Another wonderful piece with your unique voice. Well done on placing in the challenge Kristen!!.. and sorry I didn’t get to it earlier!! 😊 💚
'Soft things callous' is soooo good. Wow. I had to take a second to soak that up. So glad you placed!
Masterfully done! “soft things callous or they must quit.” is just genius! Congrats!!
Congratulations Kristen 🥹🫶🏻🥰🙏🏻🌟
Congrats!
Wooohooooo congratulations on your win! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Loved how you crafted this piece. All things excellent poetry should be. Congratulations on Top Story!
Congratulations on Top Story. Make one think don't ya!? This is moving at many levels! Well deserved TS!
So good—congrats on TS!!
Congratulations
This is excellent! Congrats on top story too :)
So deep and powerful, Kristen! Triple congrats to you!
Oh, the word nerd in me appreciated your incredible word choices. This was an outstanding entry. Congrats on TS :)
Enjoyed reading your nonet
Incredible.
This is amazing, it is just so HARD, when we reached "soft things" I thought it was all to change, but no, we just tripped onwards to callouses.
You captured it
Didn't call it. but should have called it because knew it would be a Top Story! Congrats!
Excellent work as always. Congratulations on your Top Story!!!
That last line feels like a cold slap to the face while asleep
Such a beautiful piece. Congratulations on the Top Story recognition - it's well deserved.
Congrats on your TS
👏👏 congratulations on TS🎉🥳🥳
great word usage!!