it was easy to lose where i belonged

when i’ve been told creatures like us

don’t get to roam over rivers and trees

just chew up leaves and spit them out.

they got mad when i stored them in my stomach

said it would rumble and i’d lose all i’ve known.

i was too naive to perceive, banality from beliefs

but i brought myself up better

to know we stretch our limbs to grow.

it was easy to lose all i've known

in that theres room to stretch too thin

i did everything i could to abuse distance.

filled my tummy and brain, with alternate existence

terrified i’d get caught up in their beliefs

if i complied for a single day.

there was resistance, deeper than the bone.

wrap myself up in the world behind my eyes

until i could see the bottom of the other side

the ones where my arms spread wide

and a bullet couldn't make me cry

creatures like us are meant to wrap ourselves

in everything we might know

and not to live there.

but to use those encounters as a chrysalis

so maybe one day we can roam
x

This poem is a part of my poetry collection “don’t look for your own head” available online at amazon, barnes & nobles and indigo.