It was bigger than me
And I felt like a sick child
Dragged by a donkey
Through the myrtle.
————-—Vic Chesnutt

I dipped my hand in the wrong pond
plucked the black rose
did not know that I did not know
The red wolf bit me
I bit back
I was pulled by a beast toward bed
blossoms nodding in turn
They took me for one of them
A branch rained water down
It boiled on my brow
I shook beneath a scratchy blanket
The air smelled of bleach and school glue
I was not floating outside my body
Everything floating was in my body
A bird knocked in my chest
Whatever wanted me O mouth
I was held in for a moment
I was not ready but
thank you
silence behind silence
I was almost able to forgive
I had little to forgive
I understood it might not be about forgiveness
Tendrils easing through cracks in my skull
There could be no name for this
Life being emptied of me
No name
A voice asked who I was
Oh thank you before I forget
It broke and
light shot through the blinds
I had answered