There is a place,
Inside my mind.
Where I can scream,
But cannot hide.
Where I spend far too-
Far too much time.
It's dark,
And scary,
And ma-makes me s-st-studder.
Trapped in its d-darkness,
I sh-shudder.
An astonishing fear.
A horrifying wonder.
Th-there's p-pain,
And hurt,
And th-thunder.
Why am I here?
I wonder.
Scared of e-everything.
Helpless.
But I didn't-didn't-
I didn't DO anything!
I scream.
Light breaks the darkness.
I wake to the morning light.
It's ended what seemed endless.
My clock reads ten A.M.
I am relieved.
But I know I'll see
My Bad Place again.
-SOH
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
I suppose we all have these bad places inside our psyches and we poets are especially vulnerable since we spend so much attention on psychic reality. Your poem dealt with the NIGHTMARE in the round, so to speak, your words and images illuminated all of it and the surrounding space. The result was I did not feel frightened reading the poem because it is a poem of liberation, not incarceration! There were even touches of humor which prove your mind is asserting its order on the inner chaos. This poem doesn't ignore genuine fear but neither does it submit. Mines are dangerous places but diamonds and gold are found there, That's true of your bad place too.