* I've included a spoken word reading for this poem! *
Blazing among canticle cinders, her genesis
Branded face painted anew with ash
Just
Like
A brand new "pretty girl" poster on calcine walls
Whose wall was the burning question? ¿ ? ¿ ?
Clad to the nines in countdown raiment
Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
RUN
🔥
It's immolation she imbues
The wight warmth of a naked flame comforts -
No, fetishizes, with equality displeasure
Those boys abased her blown-black wick
At the ultimate behest of violation
They lit (LIGHTNING fast) virginal flares
Gloating
Gloaming
Glowering
🔥🔥
With switch-flick lacquered fingernails
Pastel and artless
Pyromania came calling, her albedo aphrodisiac
Effervescence in wildfire born of...
The afterburn
Purity ends, perdition begins
Razing that fucking patriarchal churn
All the way
D
O
W
N
🔥🔥🔥
(c) Edward Swafford 2025
***TITLE IMAGE URL.
About the Creator
Edward Swafford
Hello! I'm an Australian writer, copywriter, and healthcare professional. I've written on Medium for over two years and also run Black Coffee Creative on Substack (over 900 subscribers).
Edgy syntax is my bailiwick.
Keep reading
More stories from Edward Swafford and writers in Poets and other communities.
Comments (4)
This is reads exactly as you have spoken it. Down literally goes down with emphasis on the italics or bolded phrases. Very emotive and very well done. I really enjoyed this.
The power of this poem is striking. Thank you for the read. It's always better hearing the poet read the poem the way they intended it. "...painted anew with ash..." is just one of the examples of the richness of your language. Well done.
It's great to put a voice to the name! Awesome work as always :-)
I am a sucker for spoken word inserts. And the accent. 🫠 You're killing me lol. Everything is better in accent! Love this! Awesome work!