By Sheena Patel
A poisoned mind
like a bad apple
appearing shiny and new
and taking up a seat at the table.
Seemingly innocuous, but
secretly dressed in a storm
its venom and toxins
seeping from its core.
Sitting in the bowl
with all the other good apples
pretending to be something it’s not,
something it will never be.
Its seeds and stem
a virulent cocktail
disguised, incongruous
so nobody could know.
Until the victims opened their mouths
and took a sickly bite.
Injected sharp and quick
like a dripping dagger
its sugared and honeyed blade
spearing through their bloodstream,
dangerously precise.
Sweet and lethal, they resisted,
with everything they had,
they resisted.
For everything they stood for
for everything left that was good
and tender and luminous,
for what was worth preserving,
they resisted.
They tried to fight the death blow
no antidote in sight
their grave reality setting in
incredulous eyes wide in defeat;
bellies filled with fruit.
Sheena Patel lives in Jackson Hole, WY with her cat Moose and the longest winters imaginable. She holds a B.S. in Biology and a M.S. in Wildlife Biology & Conservation. Sheena often is spending time outdoors taking advantage of all the outdoor pursuits the Tetons have to offer and doesn’t go a day without listening to Taylor Swift.
Academy of the Heart And Mind 