Plied me with wine, bread, and promises
Told me what I had to believe
How to behave, how to dress
Angel’s song hid your hate
Threatened hell if I left
Sunlit baptism
Reclaimed my soul
When I walked
Out your
Doors
About the Creator
Sean A.
A happy guy that tends to write a little cynically. Just my way of dealing with the world outside my joyous little bubble.
Reader insights
Nice work
Very well written. Keep up the good work!
Top insights
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Foot Bindings
I asked my grandmother how she knew she'd fallen in love. I am not sure I ever did love him, she said. This was before I met my husband. I was naive, a naked spring, a raw nerve of a thing. That cannot ever be me, I knew. Sadness swept in gently like a Moscow thaw. It is no simple thing, looking into a woman's vast soul and seeing its foot bindings. Now, in Italy divorced with my skin singed off, when I say I don't love him mean: I have succeeded at feeling nothing most days and it mostly works. Do you want the comfort of Nothing? Do you want Nothing, too? Be warned: you'll never be free, even when you are nothing. Here is what doesn't work: Accepting the stages of grief. Talking about it. Sitting with the feeling. Missing him—no, the person you were when you believed in death do us part. Writing poetry. That, too. When I say I don't love him I mean: I feel capsized in an endless, starved tide. What sometimes works: selective memory. You must forget ripe tomatoes and his beard and feeling perfectly sheltered in a big blue world. Forget coffee in bed, laughter watching TV, blowing out the candles on the birthday cake and the quiet all-encompassing knowledge that you are chosen. Remember only how love turned to a banal everyday survival act, a trapeze act unsure whether he will catch you, how the warmth stagnated and became sour, remember the foot bindings and remember the resentment boiling in your veins as you stick it out for the kids. Six-hour Netflix binges help, too. A man's fingers tracing your spine. Frozen pizza at 2 a.m. Random trips to the museum just to stand near things that last a while. The realization that crying won’t change anything. Seeing that life is just a dream, and refusing to participate in your own suffering. Bite your fist. Walk on eggshells around joy. When I say I don't love him, I mean he didn’t break my heart, he just stopped touching it and it forgot how to beat right.
By Ella Bogdanova2 days ago in Poets
from death into life
Young Aldin of Wiloh had never contemplated death. It was almost strange — so many around him had the tendency to obsess over it, to clamor and claw almost desperately at their own perceptions of the end to know death as much as they could: when it would come, why it would come, where it would take them when it did.
By angela hepwortha day ago in Fiction
Comments (17)
Congratulations on the TS! And yes, faith should never be forced.
So Fantastic Oh My God❤️Brilliant & Mind Blowing Your Story, Please Read My Stories and Subscribe Me
What a great take on the challenge! Congrats on Top Story!
This packed a punch. Well done. Congratulations on the Top Story achievement.
How freeing it must feel to walk away from a terrible relationship. Nicely penned and congrats on your top story.
I feel this to the core; excellent exit; Congratulations on your Top Story!
Amazing
ooooh, like this - a break from the church indoctrination. Congrats on TS. 🥳🥳🥳🌠🌠
So powerful and such a clever take on the challenge!
Great piece
Back to say congratulations on your Top Story! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
A scathing indictment of dogmatic orthodoxy!
Relatable for sure!!! Nicely penned and congrats, Shaun!
I think we have all walked this way, excellent work
Very raw and I imagine very relatable for lots of people who’ve experienced some sort of “church hurt” or decided to depart from a church body or faith. As someone who’s very much inside the doors in a sense I can’t echo the sentiment but am very impressed by your writing!
It's so liberating when we finally get out of relationships like this. Loved your poem
Wow. Gorgeous poem. This is one of the best ones I’ve read!