Living in the
Land of Should’s
My teeth were straight
But my vision curved

Arms and toes
And lobes contorted
Fit neat laundry bags
Un-sordid

Kept time with rhyme
And basked in praise
For deeds like angels
Under everyone’s gaze

But mercurial poison
Slowly steeped my bones
Leaked in through syllables
The unseen holes

Soul poked by thumbs
So the dyke would stay
Untorrented yet
Another day

Then as cold seepage
Like seaweed strewn
About my head
Like snot balloons

Made me ask myself
What’s all this for
To please some ideal
And settle whose score

Then my breath inhaled
Cool gales of Truth
Life unregaled
And 60 proof

Throat torched by air
Tongue smitten with fire
Burnt into Passion
I breathed in Desire

Took a good look
I was covered in cracks
Like snakes pre-molt
There was no looking back

Scaley ties that bound
Sloughed off now in piles
They looked so sad
To release this sack of smiles

From fetal to Freedom
Facing this world
The mirror of questions!
This unshaped girl

Tearing those bonds
Not knowing the cost
Lights black and gray
Shone as if all were lost

But light was Light
Self-hypnosis complete
Put down the ransomed load
I was finally freed

Like Yeats’ blanket
That cannot be whole
Were it not for the ruptures
Fine Truth to behold