masterpiece

i learned to whisper and roar.

Lucille Clifton

like lucille, i learned

to whisper and roar

imagine

a raw untouched

piece of marble, think

carrerra, think

gooey soft yellowy

perfection

handed to a man

with a wooden

plaque on a wall

engraved, kanji

letters saying

discipline

a wooden plaque the

size of my seven year old

legs, a memento from

his time in tokyo, a wooden

plaque he used to engrave

discipline

into the gooey

perfection of my

baby flesh, each

blow, a lesson he

said never to be

forgotten,

but oh i did forget

or rather, pieces

of flesh like pieces

of marble

disintegrated

like pieces of mind

like parts of bodies

like roles with scripts

playing parts, i know

how to play parts, i

know how to whisper

shush

i know how to roar

down his voice that

became my voice

you are evil and always

will be

but i have grown tired

of whispers and roars

i have grown tired

of pieces of marble like

pieces of bone like

pieces of my life like

pieces of me

shattered

maybe, maybe i can

start to carve my own

way back in