Painted Cages

My AP Lit teacher was trying to be deep, but he just set me off.

The metaphor of being trapped within yourself

is remarkably common

in High School literature classes

But I find that the mystical “self” all too often seems

inescapable

when nearly everyone who puts pen to paper

is trapped in a cage they put together themselves

with duct tape and broken pieces.

Watching others flounder

to break open a wall of their life’s work

I have to wonder,

You dedicated your days to every square inch of this

and you didn’t put in an escape hatch?

To be fair,

most of us genuinely thought

that we were putting something back together.

A way out didn’t seem like a priority

It’s just that we should have worked backwards

because we’ve painted ourselves

into a very dark corner

and we’re afraid to track the experience away

on our new shoes.

The idea of red-paint reminders

all over the floor of my nice, clean headspace

makes me incredibly nervous

But if there’s one thing this construction job has taught me

it’s that, if your headspace can have a cage,

I assure you,

it can have a mop.

You just remodeled a whole floor

with paint just as mystical as your aforementioned “self”.

What do you have against elbow grease?

Very few triggers are too stubborn

for a little Pine Sol and some abrasive sponges.

Maybe not to remove them completely,

but at least to make them look less like

your footsteps moving forward

Author's Note

Any thoughts are welcome. I know this is kind of absurdly positive for anyone currently at a lower point than I am, but I hope it made you think about your coping skills in a new way.

Reviews

[JSAECH]

I feel that being positive is the only way to cope with the challenges of life. We will be faced with challenges from the day we are born. I believe that happiness is a choice and although things may not go how you would like them to, you have to play the hand you are given. Having a positive approach can make all the difference. I enjoyed your poem.