Would It Not Be Easier?

This poem was written in response to the Rattle® Poetry Ekphrastic Challenge for January 2025 and was ultimately not selected. You can find more information here.

https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

Would It Not Be Easier?

To sit and suffer the inquisition

The bombardment of so many questions

From my nosy kin

Poking and prodding

To pry the information out of me

At any cost necessary

A personal existence on full display

With no secret left unrevealed

I make for great sport

In my family’s favorite pastime

-

Dying to know about

My love interests and my career plans

But never curious about my hobbies

And most certainly not interested in my opinions

Regarding the happenings of the world

When I try to guide the conversation

Away from the need for a diet and an exercise routine

I am rebuked

And the critique begins

-

I wonder to myself,

“Would it not be easier if…

I just disappeared

Became one with my surroundings

To fuse with the furniture

In a camouflage of sorts

A protection for the prey

Until the predators disband

That my skin would become the leather of the couch

My blood - the floral prints on the wallpaper -

And my hair to be the fibers of the carpet

Reduced to a superficial nature

Which is all my family seems capable of seeing

Would it not be easier if…

My humanity simply melted away for the evening?”

Submitted under MRB