Outliving
Says she’s been outliving holed up in this house
with its spaces in the floor. There are family albums
somewhere with all the pictures she knew, but who knows
where those are anymore. Time gets lost, like all the rest.
Her feet pad away at night as she pines for
the child she used to be. There was a love once
that was promised to her and never returned
from his travels through space and time.
There was a promise once of who she might be,
but she gave it up with the birth
of her second life, emerging from her chrysalis.
Now she calls in the night for what might have been,
roaming room to room like a caged tiger, growling.
But without the strength
to claw at anyone, her teeth pared down,
domesticated and tangled in nets.
Curation
I have gathered self, gathered pieces
Pasted them together into my likeness
See how I smile in the patchwork gleam?
JD DeHart is a writer and teacher. His chapbook, The Truth About Snails, is available from Red Dashboard.
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