1.
I should tell you where I’ve been
And all the places that live in me
I should tell you,
My contradictions have learned
To get along in my sleep
My best dreams are in black and white
I dream them when I’m awake
I dream them in my uncensored voice
Finding itself, leading me to myself
Through these winding, rawhide days
That broke the skin on my back
But couldn’t break me!
2.
Visit me soon, mother
And we can talk over wine I won’t drink
About the buried words that eat me
Let me show you how I moulted
How I shed broken skin and buried it with blood
Let me show you the cracks in my self-worth
From days when I’d crawl home with a
Crippled mind, dreams deformed, days
When I mistook the absence of ovation
For the absence of progress
Forgive me, I was wrong
3.
And so I spend my sleepless nights
Wandering strange lands
To be a fool for wisdom
I’ve been a fool for wisdom
Searching for color to splash on my dreams
My friendships became a hotel room
My home is a halfway house
I have given up my first name for my other name
I gave up strength for faith
4.
Some days, the world is a stranger
Knocking on my open door at dawn
To serve a bowl of expectations
The world throws clichés at me
Ashes to ashes
But in-between, there will be fire
Dust to dust
But in-between, I will be clay,
Shaped into something beautiful.
More birthday poetry here:
August 16, 2012 – This Day These Days
