Perception

by Kimberly Zittel

bramble up
truffle-coated stair walk
image: your presence in each movement.
For a milli-second,
orange-bursts
coat taste-buds…
I now know the grandeur
of citrus,

yet become illusioned
for it’s sweetness
disperses
amorphous…diffusion…
so that I can “build character”,
prove I am strong,

others dive into the essence
and thrive there,
while I arch my back
– solid –
until I no longer feel stiff.

I become bark,
easily stripped of protection
by outsiders.

Pulse begins to throb
against “the forces”
and I acknowledge my skin
(the power there that lies within).
Find strength…
Rough, beautiful,
beveled,
by atmosphere and harsh words

I hold on to the string
– it feels like a noose collapsing my neck
and vertebrae,
until I look
notice, I felt only a
needle: threading,
mending, sewing up a gapping (w)hole,
repairing my eyesight,
attaching my roots,
so that taste may one day return…
at least that is my hope.

Or I will be crucified here.
I am to behold, become the tree…
I will find crucified –

The Past.

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