False Pretenses

Poetry

Mutual respect and friendship isn’t always genuine. It’s a hard lesson I’ve learned time and time again.

Sometimes all it takes is one look. A split second, and it’s all over. You see it. That flash of disgust flickering across their face. That’s when you know, it was all a lie. You wait, hoping it was wrong. That it was a trick of light.

But it didn’t take long to realize the truth, did it? “I was nothing to you,” you think. It took some processing to accept it, but if you’re being honest with yourself, that instant of distaste was enough to lose all respect for them.

I’m here to tell you that they weren’t worth it. Don’t mourn them, because they don’t deserve it. You know who you are. You are the sum of all that has happened to you, and you have come out the other side intact. Or you’re on your way. So no matter what they think of you, or if they used you, took advantage, it doesn’t matter.

Shake it off, and make a friend out of the rest of your pain. Hug it. Build your world around it and the people you know are family, whether they’re blood or not. Even if you lock yourself away from the rest of the world. Make beauty from your pain, and show the world — not just them — that you can overcome anything. And you have. You’ve won. They didn’t take that piece of you that still shone in the darkness. You bloomed beneath the moonlight, and they had no part of it.

That’s when you know, even though it’ll take time, you are worth it. And they aren’t.

© Sarah Doughty

For the ‘Support Insta Writers’ August Prompts
(based on books written by authors in the IG community)
hosted by Tracy and Journee.

The Rising by @corvina.de.obsidina @poetry_goddess88 @trvp3zoid @open_journal @fictionvixen11 @kris_johnston_author Devon West and Erica Harris

104 thoughts on “False Pretenses”

  1. Pingback: False Pretenses – Vistas

  3. I have been surfing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before. addaegfbeekecdcg

    Like

  4. One look and it is over – been there, done that. However, there is another side to the ‘one look’ phenomenon. One look and I am gone. One look and I am in love. One look and I see what I have never seen before.
    To hell with those who are gone from our lives (they came for a reason or a season. We outgrew them. Good riddance). Wait for new ‘looks’
    Good luck

    Liked by 1 person

  6. You go girl ! Whitney sang it,” The greatest love of all is easy to achieve. Learning to love yourself. It is the greatest love of all.” Thanks for the ‘like’. I love great quotes, don’t you ?
    The Castle Lady

    Liked by 1 person

  8. It’s so bizarre reading this at this moment in my life. At this precise moment. I think I centred my entire existence making those people my nearest and dearest.. How far my fall from what appears to be grace will be and how many lights there will be and how many filliments will burst and perhaps in all guts and glory a familiar mask I once knew as myself might make itself apparent.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. A lot of such people would be called “controlling”, and some are obvious, but not all are immediately. My biggest problems came from dealing with the latter. Maybe I didn’t want to believe what I saw, but now it’s obvious, and the need to avoid it again is clear.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to get to your inner emotions through writing fiction stories or poetry. Writing does release a lot of pent up emotions that sometimes we aren’t even aware of. Art is another good way of dealing with those emotions as well. I write and sketch or paint depending on the mood.

    Liked by 2 people

  16. You’ve ‘liked’ a few of my posts so I’m going to presume that you find some value in what I write. That said…this is not poetry, Sarah, but it is undeniably outstanding text. That is what I know. What I don’t know is whether or not all of it is yours given everything what follows “The Rising […]” confuses who is the author of what. If this text is yours please send me an e-mail (that[dot]bitter[dot]voice[at]gmail) so I can talk with you more about the piece and your project, broadly speaking.

    I’m working on finishing up Prelude to the Downfall over the next few days, but if I see your e-mail I will make a concerted effort to respond before finishing the structuring of ‘pt. V’ and ‘pt. VI’.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “What I don’t know is whether or not all of it is yours given everything what follows “The Rising […]” confuses who is the author of what.”

      Should be:

      What I don’t know is whether or not all of it is yours given everything that follows “The Rising […]” confuses who is the author of what.

      All these years and WP doesn’t have an Edit Comment function…sorry about the error.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. There is a month long prompt set up on Instagram to write pieces based on the titles of books written by writers in the instagram writing community. The concept of rising up to overcome the things that hurt people was the theme of this piece, thus fitting the prompt. All the words are mine. And it has no bearing on the book, or the authors that contributed to it. This prompt was briefly covered beneath my name.

      That being said, this is more prose and nonfiction than poetry, but I usually include poetry as a tag for anything I consider prose.

      I appreciate the kind words about the piece itself, but I’m unsure of the necessity to email to discuss it further. If possible, please explain why you would like to do so.

      Like

      1. “I appreciate the kind words about the piece itself, but I’m unsure of the necessity to email to discuss it further. If possible, please explain why you would like to do so.”

        A few reasons, all of which sound really out of place in our society. First, I would rather not bog your page down with commentary better suited to an e-mail where I can freely write at length. Second, I enjoy corresponding with people who actually have something to say, meaningful communication rather than the superficial social media tripe. Third, I enjoy corresponding with people who seem to take pride in and care with their work, since I might learn something from them and they might learn something from me.

        Liked by 1 person

  18. A poignant post Sarah! You speak a great truth. When people support us, and emphasis our qualities, they show us that they’re worth being in our lives… Anyone who expresses disgust, or anything malicious towards us, we’re better off without!

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Pingback: False Pretenses by Sarah Doughty

  25. betrayal of friendship gives the worst pain and this piece is such an empowering one about it, S. That last line is like a final truth-blow! Let me also highlight these two great lines: “You are the sum of all that has happened to you, and you have come out the other side intact. Or you’re on your way. ”

    Great, love!

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Ah, Sarah. I think this piece is one that I like the most of yours, as-of-yet. It was a good reminder that each of us are worthy, yet we don’t always get that mutuality, as we should. I appreciated this today.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Unfortunately, I’ve been there too many times. I thought, rather than wallowing in the most recent betrayal / rejection, that I should let it out and embrace it, like I’ve embraced everything else, and turn it into something positive.

      Like

  34. Reblogged this on La Petit Muse and commented:
    This is beautiful. It is very important to be you and not someone else. Take off that mask if you’re wearing one today and embrace yourself. Thank you for this wonderful write, Sarah.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. This will offer comfort to someone who needs it the most. Nevertheless, this is a beautiful write. Being you is more important than trying to put on a ask for someone else. ❤

    Liked by 2 people

  37. Love this. I can so relate to this.

    I understand you are talking about the emotional pains we suffer in life. I have learned to embrace those and even turn them to my advantage.

    I have taken this one step further and I embrace the physical pains I feel.

    Liked by 1 person

  38. Absolutely right. All my life I’ve been careful of what I say, how I say it, when I say it, so as not to take a chance of saying the wrong thing or hurting someone or worrying that they take What I said the wrong way. Well, screw it. How many people are that concerned about my feelings?

    Liked by 2 people

  39. great motivational piece. love “Make beauty from your pain … They didn’t take that piece of you that still shone in the darkness.” that’s what you need to get over pain – posivity and inner strength/beauty.

    Liked by 2 people

  41. See it in a way that somehow it is a blessing they go away… We are so more precious diamonds that we deserve the Best…. And we are so strong that their going cannot hurt us lots…. But remember to be thankful to them too, because it is these kinds who help us to know who we really are…. Forgive them to show to self, aah yes I am love my self…..

    Liked by 2 people

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.