When I met my shadow
\nAnd I was afraid
\nI shook their hand
\nFelt the scraping of their claws
\nAlong my palm<\/p>\n
I shivered
\nMeeting their knowing gaze
\nWith red eyes
\nAnd a twisted grin
\nShoulders back
\nChest puffed out<\/p>\n
I slumped forward
\nUnable to contain the shadow
\nUnable to withstand its weight on my shoulders
\nUnable to fend off the
\nPutrid, foul odor
\nOf rotten eggs
\nAnd gasoline<\/p>\n
Their laughter
\nWas like gurgling cries
\nBaby\u2019s screams
\nShrieks<\/p>\n
And they laughed
\nAnd laughed
\nDoubling over
\nBending themself in half
\nSlapping at the their kneecaps
\nProtruding slightly farther than mine<\/p>\n
My shadow was grotesque
\nOozing with fear
\nDripping with pride
\nClothed in insecurity
\nAdorned with greed
\nAnd gluttony
\nLike jewelry<\/p>\n
When I met my shadow
\nI shook their hand
\nTheir power overtook me
\nSnapping my wrist
\nAggravating the injury
\nThat was there before<\/p>\n
I yanked
\nI pulled
\nI screamed
\nI fought
\nBut my shadow wouldn’t let me go<\/p>\n
I bargained
\nI promised
\nI begged
\nI pleaded<\/p>\n
But they told me
\nFrom the depths of their guts
\nRolling deep through the air
\nAnd into my ears<\/p>\n
They wanted nothing<\/p>\n
Except<\/p>\n
To be a part of me<\/p>\n
I halted all movement
\nLooking the shadow in the
\nDarkness of their eyes
\nEncircled by the shimmer
\nOf bright light<\/p>\n
My jaw slackened
\nMy breaths slowed
\nAnd my find seemed to understand
\nAll at once<\/p>\n
Gulping down the discomfort
\nSwirling in my throat
\nI nodded<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I met my shadow And I was afraid I shook their hand Felt the scraping of their claws Along my palm I shivered Meeting their knowing gaze With red eyes And a twisted grin Shoulders back Chest puffed out I slumped forward Unable to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1373,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63323,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63319\/revisions\/63323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}