trash me
tear me
scar me
scare me
dash me
dare me
burn me
bear me
it's like wearing cement shoes
out into a river. (ophelia)
it's like luring your best slug
out into salt water.
it's like wearing a glass bottle
over niagara falls.
it's like learning how to swim,
while mothering a cannonball.
i am predisposed toward
water imagery.
i can't write single thing
and not mention the sea.
why do i feel like i need
someone who will mother me?
i need to fill in all the blanks
where i forgot to be.
trash me
tear me
scar me
scare me
dash me
dare me
burn me
bear me
it's like riding your big wheels
on a four-lane highway.
it's like dropping your pet worm
on a rain-drenched sidewalk.
it's like running in glass slippers
over freshly-poured cement.
it's like walking the tightrope
while holding up the circus-tent.
i have my vocation,
so i've learned not to ask why.
leave me stranded on the roof,
but tell me i can fly.
tell me that there's no escape,
it's doubtless i will try.
tell me i'm already dead,
i'll promise not to cry.
i have this obsession
so i never get enough
of silver string and sealing wax
and other fancy stuff.
i lost all my teeth chewing
on this tale; it was too tough.
don't twist your plot around me;
i will always call your bluff.