The aisles thin
Growing dark and dank
Dust littered shelves
Broken fragments
Books without spines
Half torn titles,
Loose pages flutter
Unsure of their place
In the categorized mess-
A piece of a plot
Still standing unsolved,
Loose characters fluttering by
Paper airplanes formed and tossed
Through air to stick or crash
Upon the shelves
Among thick volumes
And thin typed chapters
With their endings torn to shreds
To be used as confetti
When one of their brethren is found
Remembered and stored
In a location suddenly obvious
To a mind left wandering
Aisles they created
To make sense of a formed disaster
Years in the making-
Momentarily paused
As reflection stares back
With creased forehead
And studious eyes,
Clenched lips and fidgeting fingers-
That suddenly reach and grip
The sides of the mirror,
Pry from wall
With broken nails-
And store it upon the shelf
Behind a line of books
Never to be read-
Hoped to burn.
Katrina Thornley is a nature poet. novelist, and freelance journalist that resides in Rhode Island. She has two poetry collections currently published, a novel, as well as a short story anthology. Her poetry collections "Arcadians: Lullaby in Nature" and "Arcadians: Wooden Mystics" were inspired by a local park and life in her small rural town. You can find them on Amazon now!
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About the Creator
Katrina Thornley
Katrina Thornley is a Rhode Island based author and poet. You can find Arcadians: Lullaby in Nature and Arcadians: Wooden Mystics on Amazon now. Her debut novel Kings of Millburrow is now available!
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More stories from Katrina Thornley and writers in Poets and other communities.
In Memoriam
I created this poem to help a friend through a mutual loss of someone we had lost six months earlier due to the fact that that person's birthday arrived. It's rather sing-song, but just in case it may help someone else in the same situation, I am providing it below.
By Jason Knightman5 days ago in Poets
Sensational Challenge Winners
At Vocal, we're always going on and on about the freedoms of limitation and how walls and decisions and editing make great art. But sometimes you just need to let your creative hair down, throw some paint at the wall. This was one of our more open prompts, free for interpretation, few limits, just give us a poem, a sense of the senses.
By Vocal Curation Team2 days ago in Resources
Comments (17)
Wow, Katrina this is powerful and captivating. What a beautiful, mystical walk through the mind. Will be back to read this again and keep mining. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Great work Katrina !
That subtitle is perfect, by the way.
I feel you've just opened my skull and peered into the chaos! Congratulations on a superb piece and a well-deserved Top Story.
A not too bad take on horror and the physical world of world!
it is great if you want to read my story on education https://vocal.media/education/education-in-us
Very good 😊
Amazing 😍
it's a great Creative
Great work!! Congratulations on top story!
Amazing!
very good!
You have captured the littered & disordered state of my mind so clearly, I'm afraid that any comment I might make will make absolutely no sense at all. Well done! Congrats on top story.
This poem beautifully captures the chaos and mystery of an abandoned library, with vivid imagery and a sense of nostalgia for lost stories. The final image of the mirror being hidden away adds an eerie layer of meaning to the piece.
This poem paints a vivid picture of a neglected and chaotic library. The imagery of loose pages and torn titles creates a sense of disorder, yet there is also a feeling of nostalgia and longing for lost stories. The final lines about the mirror being stored on a shelf add a haunting touch to the overall mood.
This was so interesting and I loved how the title worked to set up my interpretation. 😁
❤️