Shadows from the Past

Today I followed a prompt to choose 5-10 words from a list (found here), turn them into questions, and give one-line surreal answers using images. I tried my best to follow the prompt, but I'm not sure I succeeded.

These are the questions and answers I gave based on 10 words:

1. What is salt? The sweat glistening on my skin
2. What is longing? A wilting flower dropping its petals into the parched dirt
3. What is elusive? Breaking free of the ropes of the past
4. What is a gutter? The empty spaces and pregnant pauses between words spoken
5. What is a miracle? Waking up every morning, being alive
6. What is a ghost? A memory of my past self, a girl whispering her doubts into my ear
7. What is mercurial? A girl laughing only to sink to her knees and cry torrents of tears
8. What is thunder? A mighty warrior clashing swords with his enemy in a field of war
9. What is a song? A siren luring men to their deaths
10. What is an acorn? A small baby who changes the world

I used these definitions to create my poem titled "Shadows from the Past."

Shadows from the Past

By Candace Shultz

A shadow of a girl appears

and whispers words of doubt into my ear.

Empty spaces between expressions spoken

fill with pregnant pauses,

and she laughs as I sink to my knees.
I cry on the parched earth,

like a flower losing its petals,

screaming out for the water of life.

She is a siren luring me to my death,

but I will not let her defeat me.

Like a mighty warrior, I clash swords

with the enemy within me. 

I struggle, and sweat glistens on my skin.

I might be small, but I can change my world,

and I can break off the bindings of my past

to be free - to be alive - to be me.