there is string running
through my ears
can you see it
can you feel the tangle of
knots that bind my spirit
to this body
string that ties me
to fate
my eyes covered by
the veil but my heart
it feels every thread
rope burn on my neck
my shoulders
my back
tied too tightly to life
death seems impossible so young
just be still and listen
and hear the snap of ties ripping
one by one by one
Wow. I mean, wow. The string metaphor is too often cliche, but this is entirely unique. I can ‘feel’ the tangles and the knot, and then moving to the alliteration and physical movement to the neck. The ‘my shoulders / my back’ makes me envision someone either pulling against the ropes or the ropes being pulled by an external force, or even ‘forced upon’ the shoulders and the back in some violent way (like a beating). The ending connects well with where the poem began, taking the reader to a new plane, and leaves this reader feeling pained by the narrator’s experience.