“The Girl I Left Behind Me” by Chloe Knerr, XI: poetry

The Girl I Left Behind Me

(Ekphrastic Poem inspired by Eastman Johnson’s poem of the same name)

— Chloe Knerr, XI: poetry The girl I left behind me has thunder behind her eyes. Her thoughts rage, a brainstorm that controls her like a crooked marionette.

The girl I left behind me has cracked china skin. Her lips are pressed tight in a thin line, a clam shell hiding a pearl.

The girl I left behind me is not the girl you see before you. She does not have a deep golden laugh and round eyes that leave you stumbling into sea green.

The girl I left behind me now floats out where it’s deep. and fights with her shadow in the waves because I’ve drowned her with my pretty face. And locked her in a steel cage..