they do not hover with vague threatening airs
but lord over breathing molten curses
she is so small but wills herself to be tiny,
invisible so the march of terror cannot reach her
hiding in the hollows of mud slick passages inked with blood
she senses their intentions, unearthing all the way to the borderlands of death
grotesque mutations lumbering, slurping as they spew
their low grumbling croaks insinuating into her being
starving and cold, scathed and tattered, she is still scrabbling
searching for the way forward, each movement unbearable
unable to swallow, driven by hate for their foul injustice
huddled in shadows she daydreams of the sanctuary
embroidering another beautiful tale to soothe
child’s imaginarium built atop a hillside of flowered meadows
of dragonfly wings, gemstones, and spiraling turrets
unicorns roam in a sacred grove, fairies flit about their braided manes,
entwining vibrant ribbons and delicate poesies
traversing pure streams water sprays rainbows with each hoof-print
morpho aega butterflies alight on wild rose and woodland strawberry
lilting music arises from the reeds as fuzzy catkins sway
landscape transmutes into painted colors of exquisite beauty
startled from the reverie by the howl of grizzled hunger, stabbing pain
she hasn’t progressed but burrowed further into the crevice
wondering if anything exists beyond this fetid land of warhorses
or is it only the febrile poetry of her mind, spinning fantasies
awaiting an end that mercy may never bestow
This poem will be linked to dVerse Poets Pub prompt honoring Maurice Sendak. http://dversepoets.com/2012/05/12/poetics-sendak-the-wild-things/
Chromapoetica 
I really like this one! Such vivid images. ❤
Thank you! So lovely to see you here. ❤
Lovely poem, the imagery in particular swept me away. Thank you for joining in with this poetic prompt, your piece is an extremely welcome addition. Love every stanza!
Thank you Aaron for the prompt. I’m looking forward to it!
So much imagery here. I think Maurice Sendak would approve.
Thanks Mary!
oh my…this is a tight and touching write anna…somehow spoke to me of child abuse and the kid trying to find a way out by escaping into the safe and hopeful world of phantasy…
Yes, too many children are abused or abandoned, victims of war or other human travesty and this is where I wrote from today. Thank you so much for your visit.
Enjoyed this, Anna… especially:
child’s imaginarium built atop a hillside of flowered meadows
of dragonfly wings, gemstones, and spiraling turrets
unicorns roam in a sacred grove, fairies flit about their braided manes,
entwining vibrant ribbons and delicate poesies
Thanks Laurie, always nice to hear your feedback :).
Yes, it speaks to me of child abuse of one type or another. Sad, but, there was hope in the escapism and the daydreams. I relate to it all Anna.
Oh, I am sorry to hear that, it’s so hard when there isn’t the loving parent and hot supper waiting at the end like in Where the Wild Things Are. Thank you.
Honestly…the title had me shaking in my boots and the write did not disappoint. I know well the desire to make oneself invisible, the shrinking…pulled at my heart strings something terrible. Completely swept away by the imagery, as always, but the dark undertones give it an appeal that would more than welcome wild ones…always amazing Anna…and I’m always so tempted to scrap mine and start again after visiting!
Oh, I’m sorry, don’t scrap your poetic child on my account; that would be a tragedy! I wanted the title to put it all out there, I went a little more Pan’s Labyrinth than Where The Wild Things Are but this is what welled up this morning after hearing about the prompt. I too know the horror of trying to become invisible so it is good to know it came across well. I’m sorry to hear you know it, I wanted to tackle real monsters today.
I’ve always assumed that Sendak knew what to write because he had been there and trusted his experience. This, too, feels that true.
Thank you Susan, what a very kind thing to say.
grotesque mutations lumbering, slurping as they spew
their low grumbling croaks insinuating into her being
goodness gracious anna are you trying to give me nightmares? smiles….really great imagery in this…ugh i feel for her and where she is and wanting to shrink and hide away…and even in the hoping or wondering if there could be anything better out there…this is a bit of my adolescence…
No, just exorcising some of my own. I empathize with her too so I let ‘her’ write it out today. I’m saddened to hear you experienced some of this in your adolescence, but happy to know you found a way out. Thanks Brian.
The opening lines painted horrible and sad images for me. That she daydreams and imagines another kind of reality, only makes the situation more terrifying as it is ~ Splendid write Anna ~
Yes, too much fantasy can lead to real dangers both in childhood but especially as we grow up and have to face even more of life’s difficulties. On the positive side I see it as the birthplace of our art. Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say.
I love this line: “she is so small but wills herself to be tiny”
Thanks Shawna, I always appreciate your visits.
Terrifying – I agree about the line of willing one’s self to be tiny. This is to me more post-apocalyptic than abuse – but obviously could be both. k.
I could see that, it’s meant to be broadly interpreted :). Thanks so much K.
I’m sorry that my house is very loud right now and hard for me to focus as closely as I’d like. It is an intense absorbing piece. k
Oh, and I meant to say on your story I know about the perfectionistic gran, had one of my own who didn’t want me to swing my arms when I walked :). I never perfected that trick.
Wonderful imagery! I want to go to your imaginarium. I felt like this was a child in a war-torn place, looking for escape from the horrors of just trying to survive. But I have to admit… the second stanza made me see zombies!
Thank you Patti, my imaginarium is certainly a vast, untamed wilderness :). Zombies, I hadn’t thought of that but I like the symbolism.
The only way to get away from an awful place is to imagine a far better one. A place where one should be, somewhere one actually comes from or belong rather than the current reality.
I can see how the terrible reality is more concrete, more vivid and specific in description, so one kinda knows the child didn’t cross over in any way but is still hiding, still conjuring that better place in her mind. The beautiful place is more telling than showing, well illustrating that wish to be over there. It is entirely fantastic to extremes, but I think the more terrible the situation, the more opposite of it it is on the other side. Nonetheless to the child, that other place is real and she is cruelly stuck on this side.
Really like this one, has a lot of meaning to me.
Yes, “When the soul wishes to experience something she throws an image of the experience out before her and enters into her own image.” – Meister Eckhart
I love that you noticed the contrasts between the reality and fantasy sections, and the necessity of the extremes. This was absolutely written from the child’s point of view with the understanding of fear and fantasy from her perspective which is colored by her psychology. I was also thinking about all the children who don’t make it to the other side, that die from neglect, hunger, or war.
The imagery in this is so vivid it’s almost excruciating, I could empathize so much with what she was feeling, her wish to escape. This is a powerful poem very well written.
Thank you Mary, very nice to meet you :).
SUCH a great poem!! I really enjoy this part:
“child’s imaginarium built atop a hillside of flowered meadows
of dragonfly wings, gemstones, and spiraling turrets
unicorns roam in a sacred grove, fairies flit about their braided manes,
entwining vibrant ribbons and delicate poesies”
I can so visualize this!
Thank you Hannah, very nice to meet you :).
Very strong and daring, wonderful use of language 🙂
Thank you Louise, I need to stop by and see what you’ve been writing :).
so it looks like i’m going to repeat what everyone else said… amazing imagery. that’s what happens when you jump in late, but it’s the truth, and you know it!! 🙂
when do we stop being a child
side note, think you’d like this (totally unrelated) it’s about lions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA1i36Dd1qs
Thank you, and also for the video, I like his approach as a zoologist, really interesting! I’m running out in a little bit but will be by to read yours soon.
Fantastic Anna. The 4th and 5th stanzas are excellent. Great storytelling throughout, really changes gears, twice, the first ,2nd and 3rd, the 4th and 5th, and then the 6th, perfect storytelling structure, packed with imagery and variety. Thanks
Thanks Fred, I thought a lot about the structure. Initially I tried to rewrite another poem to fit the prompt but couldn’t get a strong narrative to work there so I started from scratch but kept the imagery generated from the mind of the little girl.
invisible so the march of terror cannot reach her
hiding in the hollows of mud slick passages inked with blood
The reality precedes the fantasy – and therefore pervades it. Gritty and truthful – like children everywhere.
Yes, precisely; thank you David, that was important to me.
Made me think of My Pony reimagined for adults as a darker fairy tale!
Yes, the fantasy life of a very small girl seemed likely filled with horses. Thanks John.
Anna- what a great poem! Capturing the scary side of a child’s imagination- maybe a metaphor for how children can sometimes see the outside world- everything can be a big baying horse….this was so imaginative- and the language you used shifted so eloquently between the nightmarish and the beautiful…perfect tempo and words for each different and contrasting setting
Thank you Stuart, your comments are always so helpful. I felt the initial shift could be a little gradual but the second needed to be sudden, great to know that worked for you. I wanted to present it from the psychology of the little girl, I initially cast it as a persona poem but the limitations of language were burdensome so I tried to settle on something in between, retaining the imagination of the child with the logic of the adult to construct something that would speak to the reader (adults).
Such vivid and heartbreaking contrasts! Beautifully done.
I thought it might work best that way, great to hear it worked for you. Thank you!
I don’t know why children suffer so horribly. They are the first victims of inhumanity, it seems. Stories in the news about violence against children brings tears to my eyes. It is a terrible crime, and people should be punished accordingly, as though they are hurting an adult. Your poem is rich in detail and resembles an alien world though it is sadly the one we inhabit.
It truly does, and how rending. I remember when I worked in healthcare risk management and we had to refuse care to a woman who had killed her two adopted children. She only served 5 years in jail, which I felt was such an injustice.
Like something getting into a small cut and you feel it , this does the same job oh so well
What a wonderful description, nice to meet you :).
I connected so much with the sense of fear in this child, trying to hide herself away to avoid the monsters. Knowing something awful is out there, and maybe coming for you, but having no way to avoid it. Nicely done, and so many wonderful words in there too!
Lovely to know you empathetically connected with her, thank you.
Great job with the flip flop, meaning a contrast here and a contrast there with all kinds of vivid nature at your lair. Yes I am still in rhyming mode but it beats a grumpy poision toad..haha
Haha, yes, especially if that’s how you create rhyming minions at your lair :P. Thanks Pat!
This pulled at my heart strings… these images of profound beauty and then the haunting darkness… very well done, very much in the vein of sendak. you made me want to hug and protect that child… fight off those warhorses.
Me too, thank you for your empathetic response.
You know, Anna, I went for the second time to Warhorse last night. I would not have gone twice but I was taking someone I knew would like it. It is kind of hokey in many ways==the story is a bit sentimental–but the puppetry is unbelievable==just great, and the way that devastation is conveyed is very powerful. If you have a chance to see it, you might enjoy.
I’m talking about the stage play not the movie. The stage play has these life sized horse puppets. k.
Thank you, I’ll have to see if I can find a local production. I’ve never read the book or seen the movie so I would likely appreciate the play without comparisons.
The book is a children’s book, and the movie has real animals. What’s remarkable about the play is that they use horse puppets the size of real horses, and actually have people ride them. I think the show is only in New York or London. k.