A recent poem for the One Word Challenge over on Writer's Talkback made me examine the relationship between two devices used in fiction - repetition and sibilance - a way of teasing and toying with a reader, and I wondered how I could apply these together in poetry.
Repetition is well known in poetry, but for Something Hidden, I wanted to create a sense of creeping tension, of drawing the reader to wonder what that Something was, and why it was hidden. I used the sibilance on each opening stanza, coupled with repeating the something hidden mantra to try to give it that dark quality.
Does it creep beneath the skin? Judge for yourself.
Something Hidden
Slithering, simpering
Something hidden
Facade built, your
Pearlesque crust
Smiling from within.
Soiling, spoiling
Something hidden
Cleaving your way
Through life, and
Slicing with passion
Heaving, leaving
Something hidden
Sharp words, your
Forked tongue
Mocking with fashion
Bending, folding
Something hidden
Blunting your blade
Around soft throats
Betrayal bidden
Creeping, masking
Something hidden
Your deceitful sheen
Stretched tight
Across a burnished
Expression.
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yes it does creep beneath the skin :O
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