Rebirth

Wrote this poem for an open mic, and ended up workshopping it in a creative writing class at university.

I haven’t talked to you in weeks

I haven’t been able to face you

rejection is the ribbon that ripples 

through my ribs as the thing in my chest

sings sad songs to soothe itself 

the organ keeps me up at night 

a million notes plinking in my mind 

I look at the endless sky 

the city’s cigarettes smother the stars

I know nothing but the blue blanket 

that cocoons me and surrounds my soul

maybe if I were reborn 

we’d be dancing in the daisies 

frolicking with the fronds and lilacs

I wouldn’t feel my throat closing up  

like a thicket of thorns  

a silent storm stirs as I think of

the us that could have been 

but I feel light living in my lungs 

I feel the hope hiding beneath my hairline 

I feel the day dawning at a distance

my yesterdays seem years younger 

when I look at the tall towers of skyscrapers 

I might talk to you tomorrow 

I might be able to face you again

I might not be able to speak at all

I might avoid you, always  

and I might turn my face to the sun

I might be sure that life is not done

with me yet and I have more time

to make terrible things transform 

into something beyond brokenness