Submitted by Kelly Morton
The following poem was written and art work created by Alias Gracie Halloway, a psychology major attending WVU Tech, and. This poem depicts the emotions of wanting to be someone else and how far such an obsession can lead.
I’ve been watching you, stalking; lurking in the shadows
waiting for my time to pounce. Like a hunter and its prey-
an unsuspecting deer grazing unaware of my presence. I
had to have you, to feel you inside and out. To carve you up
and place you on my wall, the head of my prey hung high for all to
bear witness. My trophy, my reward.
I’ve learned your routine as if it was my own, the jobs you work
the stores you shop, your hobbies, your sins.
I know them all and have taken them as my own. A shadow
of you, I dream of living under your skin, to crawl in between your bones
and nestle around your most vital organs where I would have
the most power of life and death.
I wish to devour you from the inside, eat you as a starving
animal whose been denied for days. I want to tear you limb
from limb, taking my time, savoring every bite of you.
To hear the rips and tears of your flesh and muscle as I break free
from my cocoon. Born a new creature, my new self. I am you.
I will become you, a better version, taking on your life as it
were, your jobs, your hobbies, your sins. They are all mine as they
once were yours.
I am you