A Study in Surrender

in Vivian’s voice from THE ART OF QUIET RESISTANCE

Come closer.
No need to be afraid, my darling—
not of me, not of this.
I have lived long enough to know
when a woman is vulnerable
to the precise weight of her own longing.
And you, my dear, are trembling on the edge,
breath hitching like the last note
of a love song sung too sweetly.

I have seen this before.
I have written the chapter,
penned the verses in ink and skin,
pressed my name into the sighs of lovers
who swore they had never been kissed
until they were kissed by me.

Do you wish to try and resist?
By all means, amuse me.
But I see the way you lean in,
the way your fingers ghost over
the cuff of my sweater,
testing the fabric as if
testing your own resolve.

I have spent decades perfecting this art—
the slow curl of a glance,
the pause just before a touch,
the moment between invitation and inevitability.
I know how to leave a woman breathless,
how to make her feel alive,
how to pull the silk thread of desire
until restraint unravels at her feet.

You asked me, once, what it would be like.
A date?
How quaint.
I am not a woman of candles and pleasantries.
I am the quiet turn
in the conversation
that leaves you gasping for air.

You think you are safe.
You are not.

And yet, my love, you have never been safer.
Never more seen, more known.
Never more willing to be broken open,
to be written into something greater
than the life you’ve held at arm’s length.

So, if you must speak,
choose wisely.

Choose what you know to be true.
Choose the word that will set this into motion.

Please.

Ah.

That’s the one.

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For the ARTSTACK

The Poetry Haul Challenge

Week Nine - #artstackpoets #artstack

This week’s words are: try, love, sweater, please, broken, vulnerable, date, alive, turn, chapter

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Story links:

Chapter 1 The Art of Quiet Resistance

Chapter 2 The First Test

Chapter 3 Invisible Movements

Chapter 4 How to Fight the Monsters Under Our Beds

Chapter 5 The Best Disguise is No Disguise

Chapter 6 Midnight and Blue

Chapter 7 The Stage Is Set: A Coup in Three Acts

Chapter 8 Scripts and Subterfuge

Chapter 9 The Secret Code of Us

Chapter 10 coming soon

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Thank you for reading my words. Gloria xox