poem30 Sep 2019 08:00 pm
Oh, I Have Words (Said The Paper Ballerina)
Gerri Leen
You, tin soldier
Who are lauded
For your immobility
You, who stood and stared
As if I didn't already get enough
Of that from Jack
You, who fell for me
With no words, no laughter
No...lightness
I'm paper, dainty as air
I'm made to dance
To stir, to flit, to fly
And you're made to stay,
To plant, to squat and guard
And never let me go
I was happy when Jack
Pushed you out the window
Him, I knew how to manage
Your creeping solidity
Terrified me far more
Than his black dust
But then you returned
Stinking of fish
Your flat, dead eyes
Triumphant as if you
Had done something—anything
Nothing, you do nothing
And they call that steadfast
I thank whatever deity
Protects paper creatures
Grateful that you don't burn
You melt, like snow and ice
Things that ruin a dance
As your body turned into a
Choking metal heart
I was freed in a burst of flame
They make paperweights out
Of such things as you are now
While I am a wisp of ash
A cinder, dancing on the wind
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