As the security walls begin to shake apart
I am situated here for all to see,
tied to a chair with chipped-paint splinters.
My skin finds their tips.
My body startles each time the pressed wood,
now sharp and split, pierces and pricks
the flesh of arms and ankles confined by rope,
strong and not about to unravel away;
like how my soul presented itself
three minutes ago and earlier than that,
for all eternity of my existence upon Earth
thus far ever since the heart pumped still
after the first falling of my innocence-- the first
dreaded ache in that thumping organ,
that bloody life-force thrumming loudly:
“I will not accept anything less than the success
of a life fully lived until the higher power
working hard has deemed the grand finale.”


The walls… they come undone; they crumble.
I’m not so sure I can distinguish the cold hard truth
from my cold hard fantasy.
And the essence that is me
(that impenetrable thing)
is about to be forced to spread wide///
is about to unravel.