12.15.20
PANDORA
ive tucked in many my fair share of life-lint
feral moments so valuable you never share them with anybody
i’ve never tucked in shame
my body relating less and less to the body of those i love
afraid of become so raw that
one day ill smile to show the veins in my teeth
it knits the tongue to the palate
my tongue, that it is. She’s a skiddish little thing;
never could get past the neckties they made of her friends
when they gave these monsters words
she knows it also means giving them a voice
spent so long washing that country off my body
to find its city sculpt my heartframe
it’s infrastructure map my memory
etch my eyesight
how i love the passionfruit’s tart almost as much as I love it’s sweet
some people might think it a curse
but I find my country’s lesson a blessing
to refuse to un-love the things that kill you