Fear
demands
that you toss
the could have had
avoid all the should have’s
not matter what the price don’t make
a fuss.
It glares through your eyes
and into your brain
cheering you on
discouraging you from
drawing undue attention to it
or making waves.
It is a coward
droning its mantra
into your ear
until you believe
uniting with others who feel as you do
accepting it as fact
distrusting your basic instincts
no longer seeking help
or listening to reason.
Hypnotizing
you into acceptance and apathy
It will have you
acknowledging that it is selfless
seducing you for your own good
insisting that you follow its lead
persuading finally
that you come quietly
and not argue.
Altering forever
what would have been
into what must be.
**Inspired by Happy Family—a film at the Italian Film Festival in Honolulu.
Author, Poet, Photographer, domestic violence survivor, and naturalized immigrant, Cornelia is currently an Arts and Letters member of The Southwest Florida Branch of The National League Of American Pen Women.
Cornelia lived in Kaneohe, Hawaii, for thirty-six years. Also, seven years in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York. She now resides in North Fort Myers, Florida.
Her poems and photography are published in print, online, and in Rain Bird, a literary and art journal of the University of Hawaii's Windward Community College (2008-2013).
In 2013, Cornelia received Rain Bird's Kolokolea Poetry Prize for her poem, "Speaking French."
In 2015 her chapbook "Hawaiian Time," entered in the National League of American Pen Women's Vinnie Ream contest, was awarded third place in their inaugural multi-discipline category.
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