I rebel against the part of myself
That is a part of you; the common
Humanity that constrains me.

I recoil from cigarette smoke, from windows.
I drop my leaves with a charred refusal;
I rebel against rebelling and negate myself.

I recede from owls, from lawnmowers.
I am the fallen blade, the morning that wouldn’t rise;
Who would manicure the invisible?

I excuse myself, excuse you, excuse the world.
I leave the table of chatter and curse the noise.
My thoughts irritate me; the horizon hurts.

Today calls me to tomorrow and I am nowhere to be found.
I was lost when the centuries were shipped, and sank.

I sleep with antiquities: jewels, wars, spices, crates, the dead.
Somehow I salvaged myself, or a part of myself,
The part that is you.

My eyes blink tears of recognition
And sting like a bee’s final rejection of life.

Monday, May 19th, 2003