
I spent the day under covers trying to uncover my own truths about healing
Because I’d spent a decade believing I’d rather be acceptable than breathing
Through my own lungs, with two pink cheeks, with soft skin and mind.
But I couldn’t bear that cost so I erased myself gram by gram,
Until they went blind.
I used to believe I’d rather cut out my own eyeballs than notice an imperfection.
Years wasted thinking that how I look was the reason I got most rejections,
Not because my carcass was barely holding the pale surface together as a trophy,
But don’t call the cops on my stolen years and feel free not to cry
A soft-spoken “sorry”.
I found happiness in truth but I never looked for truth in happiness, I couldn’t.
The pain left in me was a fireproof glass but the joy was short-lived and wooden,
And the streets weren’t welcoming because nothing’s a compliment to a deflector –
Not the classic kind, just another working class disaster repeating itself
Like a broken vector.
-JW