The Shoulder

To Be Continued...

I never knew what my shoulders looked like,
Not like a seven year old knows her elbow
The very first time she falls off her bike and
They get acquainted,
Together for life, just like Mom told her
Whenever they waited in E.R.
And she showed off her other battle scars
To the doctors on first name basis.
"You're far from a little lady" they would say
To which she would snottily claim,
"And i plan on keeping it that way!"
So she sits in her pigtails and picks anyways
Despite what they say, she thinks scars are cool
And today,
The mark reminds me of Mom's smile,
Of skipping school and our denial
To watch I Love Lucy
While the bullies make a fool of some other
Oddball girl.

I never knew what my shoulders looked like
Cuz' soon I Love Lucy stopped. 
I took my little lady balls
And opted for the fight.
Maybe way beneath I wasn't really brave
Cause I've never been the type,
But i wore it well, straight from hell,
I never had to bite, my bark was fierce.
I swore off fear forevermore
So even in the dark i never dared
To ask myself, did I hear...
A noise?
I never cared for the strangers
Who lingered in the corners
of downtown Toronto at 3am.
Always kept my poise when i passed
the clouds of smoke that crept
from the campus corridors
On cold October nights.
If you never have to look over it,
How would know what your shoulder looks like?

But now, like pooling water,
My blue iris falls into the corner
Of my eye, filling the side
Closest to the shoulder
That is closest to the ear
That heard an eerie stride.
The shoulder that felt
a pair eyes
Lurking in a forest,
In a backseat, in a bathroom.
They burn my backside,
The heat is hurting.
The caress of doom
Is yearning for our union
And i've tried not to listen
To my shoulder when it whispers to beware,
I've tugged on my pigtails and tried not to care
But it taps on my mind and tells tales
Of that night, it screams
Probabilities,
Vulnerabilities,
And the like.
It cuts the distance between Death and I
into quarters,
In the meantime I hide behind a pair
of paranoid shoulders. 

Reviews

[Siddhartha]

Those shoulders that once played and fought are now overawed by responsibilities, dreadful possibilities and vulnerabilities, and thus childhood innocence yields way to battle hardened adulthood and you know the strength of your shoulders though you never really could make out their surface, filled with the scars of time as they are.
Honest, intense and heartfelt.

[An owl on the moon]

There is such an intimate feel to this write.. confessions of pain and courage.. travels across the mind and heart. So very intriguing and moving..

[Chris Smith Welshpoetcs]

Excellent poem my friend, for the weight of the world is heavy on the shoulders.

[Robin]

an amazing piece that speaks of the self in its journey of awareness , to be continued indeed ~