Familiarity

Posted on by Reena Saxena

familiarity breeds
like fat blooms on rancid chocolate
A bite feels like a risk
-that can spark wars
with rumbling sounds
causing a churn
never fully understood
yet feared
-or pacify addiction

relationships
neither cosy nor repulsive
hands pulled away
then held
for photo-ops

Quadrille Monday at dVerse

18 thoughts on “Familiarity”

  5. “Unsettling” is what someone wrote and yes, I definitely feel that when I read this. But perhaps that’s what you intend. I see those two photos…I read of the rancid chocolate….and wars with rumbling sounds and the word “churn” and feel as if I’ve stepped into the middle of an argument between two people….the point where they just close their mouths and hold their anger in….but then have to “pose” to pretend all is alright. One wonders….is their relationship made up of anger and they’re just “sticking it out”?

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  6. This is sharp, unsettling, and very intentional—and that’s exactly what gives it power.

    The opening image is striking: “fat blooms on rancid chocolate” immediately creates discomfort. It’s not a pretty metaphor, but that’s the point—it captures how familiarity can spoil, distort, or turn something once sweet into something questionable. That sensory risk in “a bite feels like a risk” works beautifully, especially as you extend it into something larger—conflict, tension, even “wars.” It moves from the personal to the almost primal without overexplaining.

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  7. There’s interesting movement through your poem Reena – at least that’s what it suggests to me. Your write gives space for the reader to consider their own experiences. I think at might be at that stage of my relationship of your third (unwritten) stanza, if you can grab my meaning. Beyond photo-ops now. Well done 👏

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