hunting
a poem on an actual dream i had some months ago
in this dream,
a voice calls me closer
to you.
under the harsh lighting,
you sit with your crossed legs
on the leathery sofas,
glaring at the fading light of my eyes.
while the cherry pit in my throat
grows larger and larger.
i stand a few meters away,
barefoot,
sinking in the teal floral moss-like carpet.
another voice,
“Come closer. Confess.”
every step is supposed be
a confession,
a siren,
a trade,
of every single uncommitted crime.
there are no confessions.
yet I use all my steps,
with trembling lips and a burning chest.
drowning and drowning as I get closer,
blood drips down staining the cold carpet,
tracing a trail to a trap.
but you never take your eyes off mine.
toddlers play the same game,
running to them with small steps
and gleaming eyes.
but in this aflame forest,
in this clustered cavern,
in this science lab,
the game is of running back but
having no path to do so.
i am made guilty for an animal i never hunted,
so now there will always be blood
on my fingertips.
the stench of this guilt
allures the predators to attack,
and soon i will be prey to the real hunters.
not one human will see me like how i see myself,
and maybe that is the comfort of it all.
Would love to hear your interpretations, let me know in the comments.
love,
afifa
The first thing I said after reading through is "what the fuck" but like in a good way. To be honest I lowkey did not understand shit but the way I saw it (and I'm probably dead fucking wrong but) was that at first, you're the animal who's hunted. Your throat slit as your stand there. You're asked to step closer and confess to your crime, even though you're rhe victim. You don't speak or admit, because you can't. Your throat is cut open, you can't talk even if you wanted to. Yet you step closer. Not in confession but more in innocence. You step closer as if to prove "see, I didnt do it. I was killed. I'm not the hunter." And because you're being seen, because someone's eyes are on you. You don't notice how it's a trap. Because you're so desperate to be heard to be seen. To prove your innocence. And by the time you realise, you're too far in. And so, your hands remain bloodstained. With the animals blood or your own, maybe one is the other. Youre a prey who's accused of being a hunter. And it doesn't take long to find that out. It won't take long till your throat is slit and someone else is blamed for it too. Okay enough yapping I'm starting to cringe myself out but let me know if I was atleast close or completely wrong. Love this either way.
Forget my interpreration I need to know your interpretation and what the second half after the trail to a trap is all about!!
First i thought it might be a parent, a mother maybe, visiting you in your dream. Then I thought a past lover. Then I wasn't sure. Who was it that was a snare urging you closer and closer, slowly dragged steps at a time? Was it you? And what is this animal? So many questions! Such are dreams. Oh, yeah, it was a dream, wasn't it? I guess you might not even know who or what was sitting on the sofa staring at you.