Countenance

An overbearing restraint

Present in bones

And elasticity of skin,

The inability to change

With the internal set

Of a single moment,

The reading of pages

The prediction of the story behind,

Unable to understand

Unable to foresee

From a blank cover,

A title with little given

To innerworkings,

A mask most sought after

By poker players and criminals.

Words shared

Not giving insight to the true

Workings of a mysterious mind

Kept under lock and key

With the fear

Of an imposter arriving at the door

And begging for entrance

Into a world carefully created

By a caring hand,

A well loved situation entered into,

With the need for protection and saving grace.

A resolution to be unmovable

The only way to guarantee

The soldiers needed to protect

The very blueprint

Of a wonderful life

With pages etched in delicate writing

Leather-bound and gilded,

A souvenir for coming generations

Hidden within a trunk

Beneath a collection of memories

That helped create

The overbearing restraint.

Katrina Thornley is a nature poet. novelist, and freelance journalist that resides in Rhode Island. She has two poetry collections currently published, a novel, as well as a short story anthology. Her poetry collections "Arcadians: Lullaby in Nature" and "Arcadians: Wooden Mystics" were inspired by a local park and life in her small rural town. You can find them on Amazon now!

Also, be sure to give her a follow on Instagram (@seekatwrite).

Don't forget to head over to Kindle Vella and read "Camp Terror"! You can read the first 3 episodes for free.