A\rose
by Ivy Ndambuki
With every word he dug you deeper into the ground.
As he spoke your heels dug into the dirt and planted roots like a weed.
Pulling you deeper and deeper until suddenly you were suffocating,
And in your breathless stupor confused his temporary benevolence as an excuse for his actions.
Soon enough he had you.
You were his,
But you were stuck.
Unknowingly so but comforted in his all-encompassing rhetoric…
only your head afloat and the darkness your captor created.
About the Author
Ivy Ndambuki is a Junior at WSU studying Political Science. She began writing in high school as a creative outlet and carried it through her college career. She is inspired by strong women of color and uses her writing to find the beauty in difficult situations.