The Cleanse

[Sparkydashforth]

Hi ephemeral,

this is a fine write -

So... you guys like break-up poems?  Or, as I like to call the series of fragmented phrases and and poems that spilled from myself in the aftermath, "There are so many ways to say, 'Narcissist.'"  Probably better kept in my notebook; let me know ;P.

You made yourself out to be
lush ground beneath my feet,................reminds me of what once a gal said to me. She promised to be as compliant as grass. At the time
I was tempted to fall into her power, but I remembered in time how grass can tangle and strangle while rocking you to sleep.
I like the pithiness of this statement, and all it implies.

a place to rest,
an earthen reprieve
to my grasping through trees;
the clearing from my dreams...............Can't see the woods for the trees analogy? Sex is a reprieve, you nailed this. Love is a great way to
hide what comes next, but it's the door worth going through. I like how you compare 'grasping' and 'clearing'. Clearing has multiple
meanings here for the reader. A clearing in the woods may indicate a moment of clarity of course.

But love,
liar, fool, thief;
what business have you in my dreams,
my softened thoughts,...........................Here you deftly imply the vulnerability of dreams, those softened places where the body/mind can be stolen into an erotic realm where consequence and reality have no sway.

Scorched earth,
smoke rising;
this is the cleansing of you
from me.......................................I like this stanza but it all ends too abruptly for me. I feel you need a few lines before these
stark conclusions. Something to put more meat into the narrative.

I enjoyed this.