“When Tragedy Strikes”
Priya Dixit
Priya Dixit
Where will you be
When tragedy strikes?
On a curve of cracked road
In a fog-soaked night
The cloaked moon leers
His yellowing grin,
As tragedy smirks in
The rictus of death
Making a farce of life once again.
Tragedy strikes
In the dead of the night
Eyelashes are laced with
Shoelaces untied
Because tragedy's sudden
And tragedy's blind.
The sirens were cold
But blinking lights burned
When they woke up again
Since tragedy stings
From the depths of the dead.
Tragedy strikes
In the dead of the night
It creeps like a blight that's
Impossible to fight
Because tragedy cuts like
A blunt rusted chef's knife
And tragedy twists like
A dagger in weak light.
The cracked road is painted
With splintered white lines
Old bones were broken and
Rubble was smoking
Over red lights and white lines
Rubble to gravel and
Gravel to smoke
From bloodstains to pale eyes
Chance cheats and faith lies.
Tragedy strikes
In the dead of the night
It’s a sickly
Paralysis settling on
Snow over mud stabbed into
Blood over snow as sliced-up
Spiderwebs trickle
Over fate and torn eyelids
Slip into sleep
That penultimate
Anesthetic and scream
Into tragedy's numbing embrace
Because heartbeats are stilling and
Hope will be fickle
(Flatlining and dying)
And tragedy's true.
Tragedy strikes
In the dead of the night
Cold as dawn
Without the light.
What will you do
When tragedy strikes?
What could
You do
When tragedy strikes?
I really really love your poem! I think repetitively adding in the line of "Tragedy strikes" at the beginning of your stanzas really tied your poem together and connected it really well. The line about the cloaked moon is so amazing!
ReplyDeleteHonestly Priya, you never fail to deliver A+ writing. I really love your similes and how you describe "tragedy" as a multitude of things and eventually tie it all back together at the end. I love your seventh stanza and especially the line "into tragedy's numbing embrace".
ReplyDeleteThis poem is so cool! It has a great, slightly off putting tone which adds to the whole "tragedy strikes" concept and it was really cool for me to see!
ReplyDeleteThis poem is so creative! I love your refrain of "tragedy strikes" and how your language is so juicy and descriptive.
ReplyDeleteI love how the diction and the rhymes! You use very descriptive, powerful language to convey your message, and the rhymes you use work as an effective poetic device but do not seem forced at all.
ReplyDeleteI love this poem, it is so amazing! The rhyme scheme is really great, and it adds to the spooky air; and all the different descriptions of what tragedy is only enhance what you say. The flatlining part and the section that comes before it is really cool in particular.
ReplyDeleteI adore the prose in this, as well as the rhyme and metaphors.
ReplyDelete