Over the years, I have written some of my best poems in response to writing prompts. “Boundary of Fear” was written to a prompt while I was a member of the Wild Wolf Women of the Web, I think. While there, I discovered that I don’t fit comfortably into close-knit groups in which there is a predominate culture. In a way, this poem has to do with a danger inherent in not fitting in.
BOUNDARY OF FEAR
A boundary of fear encompasses my life,
protects my trembling heart and shaking hands
from reaching out to you for reassurance.
Familiar terrors comfort and protect me
from the urgent need to change, to grow.
Within that searing ring embraced,
I rest secure and safe, static and unchanging,
until sheer time would crumble and decay
what life, love, pleasure, joy, and laughter,
may not erode or intrude unkindly on.
Copyright © 1998, by Elizabeth Wicker Bennefeld.
