Threats

[sonne-windsoul.livejournal.com]

These two pieces were written months apart from each other but pertained to the same "threat" and I think they show an interesting contrast between the reactions (to the same thing) of my cat and horse aspects. The actual "threat" isn't as serious or dangerous as it may sound in these, but that's part of what I wanted to portray--a basic, instinctive response that wasn't as rational and logical as that of my human mindset, because this is how I believe I experience some of the mentalities of feline and horse, and thus I sought to capture them finally (or one event/type of reaction) in writing while they were occurring in my mind. Though the first one, "Feral Fire", incorporates more of my human thought into it, particularly in the last stanza, than the second piece, which kind of reflects the prominency and level of blending with my human aspect that my cat 'type has been the past couple of months.

“Feral Fire”

Calm is interrupted as a threat is sensed before me,
Yet equine thoughts of flight do not surface this time;
I am not prey, I am not a victim to run away from this.
Felinity thrives prominently, edging toward defense;
Knowing that I will not strike, but the instincts remain and build.
Paws become anxious as they twitch and pace,
Pushing and pulling claws in and out rhythmically,
Waiting for the threat to appear.
Tail thrashes in annoyed expression;
Ears swivel and perk as they track the presence.

Blazing eyes of embers make contact with the intruder,
As eyelids widen and pupils focus on the invading target.
Striking forward, pointed ears listen carefully,
And as my senses gather more information of this approaching threat
My expression and body changes distinctly.
Muscles tense in legs, back, and tail,
Causing paws to sink mildly into the softened soil below;
Claws exposed and ready to strike.
Hackles bristle with a rush of adrenalin and warm blood through vessels.
Ears sling back against head and neck.
Mouth stretches in a wide, vicious grin of bared teeth;
Saliva sliding down ivory fangs,
While growls, snarls, and hisses emanate from lungs and throat,
A warning to any who approach—“stay back!”

Ready to pounce, ready to fight and attack that which threatens me
—Instinct wishes to act not to withhold.
But instinct will not complete its desire this time;
The threat ceases or proves unattackable.
I neither have to flee my territory nor fight to protect it and myself;
Not today, not tonight.
Yet I remain strong and vigilant
To any future threats that shall cross my path.
Feline and human; instinct, will, and ferocity—all intertwined.
For now I will not stand here as a victim,
I will not succumb to those who bring harm upon me.
Though I am often docile, ferality thrives within me,
And may it protect me and aid in my strength
To defend myself and what is important to me.
A fierce soul resides inside these amber eyes.

~Sonne 11/4/07

“Threshold of Escape”

Eyes flash open, pupils wide and alert.
‘Something is wrong’—my senses plea to me.
Familiarity is gone; safety and sanctuary are suddenly lost.
The bright open fields have been left behind and I find myself where I have stood before;
A place of vague familiarity, for I have been here and seen this place many times
Yet I have never made myself acquainted with it.
It is a site of threats, dangers to me and my mind, a place of strangeness and discomfort.
I wonder if I have led myself here,
Or if my docile mind has submitted to someone else as my leader?
‘I don’t belong here!’—My mind races as I sense hidden danger.
I feel and understand that something is not right,
Something lurks in this place that I should avoid.
Hooves express anxiousness as they briefly lift and drop in cycles;
Tail draped of black curtains flicks and thrashes in worry;
Ears alert and erect twitch as they carefully listen in their attempts to detect the threat.
Yet fear sets in further—alertness fades into expressions of near terror.
Maybe irrational are these feelings, but instinct calls, and it has no concern for rationality.
Instinct demands survival, it demands attention and action,
It demands I heed its luring call.

My eyes scan widely but fail to discover the danger I feel approaching, ever closer.
Intensity increases as I yearn to leave this place, to embrace my best defense
—To run or suffer.
Yet suddenly I’m stricken with shock as I ready myself to sprint away:
‘Something has caught me; I can’t run!’
My mind screams out with no words—‘THREAT!!’
I feel my reigns captured by the enemy before me.
Neck arched, ears swung back, eyes wide in terror,
And mouth slung open to emit shrill screams;
As head throws and thrashes side to side, up and down,
In futile attempts to pull free the reigns.
Forelegs rear, pawing ebony hooves to the dark air around me;
Hindlegs sink into the soil,
Pushing my body away from danger in a vicious struggle of power.
Muscles tensed, mind in fear and terror, body battling to win this challenge of strength.
No thoughts of whether I will free myself and flee from here—only focus on succeeding.
No concept of possibilities, only that I must get free and leave this place
…Leave this threat.

~Sonne 8/07

Comments

[paleo.livejournal.com]

I like these quite muchly! Makes me want to try my hand at canine threat. :-)

[sonne-windsoul.livejournal.com]

Thank you :) If you do end up making one about that I'd be interested in reading it.

[zenosaur.livejournal.com]

I love your work! Nice job Sonne!

I really need to post here on animal quills.

[sonne-windsoul.livejournal.com]

The activity of posting wavers here a lot, but understandably new writings aren't added much since we also waver substantially in our times of making therian writings as individuals. But feel free to post some of your writings here when you make them.

And thank you for the compliment :).

[aloiis.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing! I'm not eloquent with poetry but let's just say that using this format/form of writing to talk about this was a brilliant idea. I'm not sure I could have put it out like that.

[sonne-windsoul.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, and thanks, I'm glad you like it :3. The poetry thing just kind of happened, I suppose. I wrote the lines and thoughts as they came out, which ended up being in a poem-style with the lines and stanzas, as opposed to my horse prose earlier this year that came out in paragraph form, but with similar fragmented and choppy-style thoughts and images. And I agree that the poem-style lends well to what is being described in the writings for these--just something about the action, emotions, and instictive intensity in them that came out better in lines than paragraphs.

[skye-san.livejournal.com]

Oooh, very nice poems.

[sonne-windsoul.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)