If I could wear soft and loose clothes
every day
and be taken seriously,
forgetting for a moment
that comfort is for lesser creatures,
I would be less ill
at ease
and more sensitive to
zippers and seams.
I lost a drinking habit years ago
and found every thing
sharper with age,
which does not clot the
bleeding, or numb the
site I remember I last had it
with me,
my cups are bone dry since this thirst
has all
but evaporated
making the air thicker around me.
If I found a diamond encased
in every silver lining,
carbon acting under the pressure
of those that have convinced me
to forgive
in these conditions
with sparkles on top,
I would have tasted love
on the rocks,
and choked on the hardest facets.
Time is our only personal property.
In-kind, community property
has foreclosed upon the pearl gates.
These lips have been boarded up
to deter any passer by's
from dwelling.
It may not be safe
to live this way
without proper uniforms,
window dressings
and with naked wrists,
lacking a steady leg to pivot upon
in order to see things
as they are
and find slighted contentment
enough of a shelter and shield
from monsoons and bad moons rising
every weak day.
Photo credit: Carol M. Highsmith, Kinney County, Texas. 2014 [Public domain].
