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Poetry: Constrict

He had a picture of me 
on his work desk. A boa 
constrictor wrapped around 
my neck. He’d say,
“She wasn’t even scared.” 

His framed pride
didn’t match my fear, 
so I pretended.

Not a snake charmer, 
I learned to drink venom.
Walk through glass. Palms
up, always. Let me prove 
how good I am, like sweet
orange trees. Climb. Take
cover beneath my limbs, 
I’ll take all the blame. Sorry
for the storm, for freezing
pomegranate hearts. Orphan
without warmth—I know. 

Look, watch me spin so
bright. Sing to the moon. 
Ride through a rice field, kick
dust onto the snow-white
cranes. See me create starlight
babies with magical breath—
lean in. Smell them. 
Part me. 
Part you. 
Us.

Branches. You see?
Beautiful are the buds
bearing your blue eyes.

Maybe you had to move
away. Once, no twice.
You needed to be further
from this mess; this me.

Further and further.
I see.

Neck, boa, constrict—
my words press like sap
pushing through bark.
Not fearless, but what
will too late feel
like when words sit stuck
inside. No, say it all. Look,
do you see? “She wasn’t even

scared.”

56 thoughts on “Poetry: Constrict”

  2. See? I am amazed myself. What some few moments of space, a moment for another breath, can produce for you. We all, all of us, float in space. We are the voice that brings experience into that openness. You well know, I read this previously, but I never felt my response like this time now. Beautiful. I feel you in the poem. Beautiful.

    Thank you for sharing this.

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    • Thank you for reading deeper into the poem and seeing the meaning behind it. I’m healing myself by exploring my feelings through these words. Headed, hopefully, more and more toward acceptance.

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  10. I can relate to this. In the picture you show…
    1 I have the same red hair.
    2 I have the same shaggy beard
    3 I wear the same “John Lennon” glasses (even to this day)

    In the picture you describe…
    I have photos of my two girls with a Python across their shoulders taken at the zoo in Singapore, when we lived there.
    This almost made me cry.

    Gracias

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  16. “Maybe you had to move away.”

    This gave me flashbacks of me as that little girl strolling in the park and snacking with Daddy. Teared up while reading. I remembered “Daddy” by Coldplay. It made me re-read your poem. It’s full of emotion, Bridgette.

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  22. I like the extended metaphor of the narrator with trees. Works well to help us readers engage with the confused pain the narrator expresses. Yeah, I know the autobiographical nature of it…just another way to keep myself at a slight distance. I think many of us have complicated relationships with Daddy. A very beautifully disturbing poem.

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    • Thank you so much. I’m glad that metaphor worked for you. This poem is one I could write over and over I think as I continue to process my relationship with my father. It’s complicated and brings me great sadness.

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