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Wonderland Poetry Prompt Challenge Day 7

By Ellie HoovsPublished 9 months ago Updated 8 months ago 1 min read

The oracle didn't speak.

She just raised one eyebrow

and handed me a cracked mirror

so I would never see myself clearly.

I tucked a silent map

under my tongue

cartographed by things left unsaid.

The path was unclear.

The signs were written in a language

I'd invented at thirteen and immediately forgotten.

I fell in love with a ghost

and argued with the fickle wind

in a labyrinth they'd made of expectations.

They told me I was "almost there";

they meant emotionally codependent.

By the river I tried to barter with my past

The ferryman shrugged

"everyone does," he said.

I crossed anyway to find a barren land

with a single wilting flower

that looked suspiciously like me.

I knelt beside it,

watering her with my tears as

I bloodied my knuckles,

cracked them open from digging out

the roots of shame.

It didn't thank me.

But it stayed,

blooming gently, stubbornly.

And I think that means

I made it.

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About the Creator

Ellie Hoovs

Breathing life into the lost and broken. Writes to mend what fire couldn't destroy. Poetry stitched from ashes, longing, and stubborn hope.

My Poetry Collection DEMORTALIZING is out now!!!: https://a.co/d/5fqwmEb

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Comments (18)

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  • K.B. Silver 8 months ago

    Here is my entry for the day 7 prompt. Sorry to blitz attack you with so many all at once, I was out of commission for almost two weeks. <3

  • Diane Foster8 months ago

    Day 7 entry, thank you! https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/the-compass-in-the-stone%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">

  • Amazing!

  • D.K. Shepard9 months ago

    Definitely a more somber and haunting tone, but with a note of triumph at the end. A very fitting piece for such a word of inspiration!

  • Susan Fourtané 9 months ago

    This is very beautiful, Ellie. I like the part with the flower very much.

  • I tried to barter with my past, I especially loved that.

  • Calvin London9 months ago

    Very nice, Ellie. Full of subtle but good analogies of life. Especially liked the lines: "They told me I was "almost there"; they meant emotionally codependent."

  • Alyssa Musso9 months ago

    Another lovely and emotional poem, Ellie! Like Angie, I love the lines describing the "silent map." Here is my poem for today! https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/journey-7r2fw0bph%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">

  • Lovely! I especially liked: “I tucked a silent map under my tongue cartographed by things left unsaid.”🩵 The Ferryman lines remind me of Chris de Burgh’s song “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kNwvIEQsg0

  • C. Rommial Butler9 months ago

    Well-wrought! The labyrinth of expectations... I think of it as a labyrinth of mirrors, and have often asked: When mirror regards mirror, which is the reflection?

  • Rachel Deeming9 months ago

    This was like an Everyman parable but more lyrical.

  • Nikita Angel9 months ago

    Fantastic 😊

  • Rohitha Lanka9 months ago

    Fascinating!!!

  • L.I.E9 months ago

    Powerful. What a journey to find a new version of yourself.

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