Australia Poetry Magazine

Australia Poetry Magazine –

"Breadcrumbs" by Emma Robinson

(Advertisements – Scroll down for the magazine.)

Read and Submit to the Poetry and Art News
Get a Free Writer's Page at Writers, Poets, Playwrights
--

Home | Published | Submissions | About

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Visit waxpoetryart.com to explore poetry (including haiku and spoken word), visual art, photography, play, and fiction submission opportunities. Experience the thrills of the Weekly Poems Contest.

May 15th, 2026

Shakespeare's Pen 2025/2026 – Winner for OCEANIA

Breadcrumbs

by Emma Robinson

He left a trail of maybes
a half-smile,
a late reply,
a compliment laced with convenience.
You followed,
not because you couldn’t see,
but because you hoped
there was more beyond the crumbs.
 
You gathered them like offerings,
each one a flicker
in the drought of being seen.
But you were not made
to feast on scraps
from someone else's indecision.
 
You are not a puzzle
for someone to half-complete.
Not a pause
in another’s story.
You are the whole page,
the ink,
the hand that writes.
 
Your softness is not weakness
it is ocean.
It carves stone.
It doesn’t beg for tides
that only comes when they are bored.
 
And if he left breadcrumbs,
let him starve on the path he paved.
Because you
you are not meant to follow.
You are meant
to rise.
To walk the road
of your own making,
and never again
settle
for anything less
than a table set in full.

About the Poet
Emma Robinson resides in Aldgate, South Australia, Australia.
Read the poet's biography and Wax Poetry and Art publications on
Emma Robinson's Artist Page.

This poem is featured in Legends of Shakespeare's Pen 2025/2026, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.

Keywords: destiny, resilience

Previously published in Australia Poetry Magazine:
Fettered by Freedom
by JB Felix

Home | Published | Submissions | About

Australia Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
- Visit the main Wax Poetry and Art Submissions Page to see all opportunities.
- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
- This website and all contents ©Florencia Bay Books and specified artists.
- AI Training is not permitted on this website.

(End Magazine)
--

(Advertisement)