Nicole Cavalieri, Period 7, 2/7/22

 Nicole Cavalieri

Period 7 Mythology

2/7/2022

Blog #3

      This blog is the first of a new semester for my class. On Friday, we began conceptualizing the largest project we will work on this year: creating our own monster. The concept my group has right now is creating a monster that represents anxiety. Over the pandemic I began writing poetry occasionally to express my feelings and I had some leftover fragments and ideas that I’ve brought together here because they feel fitting for this concept. I had thought of a personification for my feelings that I used in the finished version of this poem. 

The In-Between

In the deep dark corner

Between my bed and wall

A cavern yawns

Wide and deep

Absorbs the clutter

As I sleep

The cavern swallows

Doubts and fears

Stress and responsibilities

I feel them strain

Against my weight

As I push against the bed

And although they are out of sight

They weigh heavy

On my mind

"Lazy" "Worthless" slithers up

Slides beneath my pillowcase

Makes a home below my brain

And whispers right into my ear

My mother gazes through the crack

In my bedroom door

Again I strain against its mass

And hear a deafening creak

Though she does not say a word

I feel what she must think

The creature in my pillowcase

Provides the words she does not say

And still I toss the next bottle

And feed the cavern, night and day

I know it should be easy

I would feel better if I moved

But to face the in-between

I have to look at what's inside

And so it sits and grows and stews

As I plug my ears and hide

And push harder against its weight

One day I muster the courage

Using my fingers as a sword

Dig out cans and towels

Papers, hangers, shorts and shirts

The creature in my pillowcase

Slinks into the dark once more

I still hear it

But fainter now

And push the bed flush with my wall