Prisoners

I find myself stifled and drowning in floating strands stripped from feathers. Shreds of my own dignity filtered through the airy spaces between my containment. This room is becoming increasingly violent as my ears flood with the primitive scream of the cockatoo. We have imprisoned our lovers and friends; these basic little angels for a prettier view. I run my hands over the silk of my night gown. The beat to this noise is like a slow death. I'll serve my punishment for this kind of betrayal.

 

The world is dominated by arrogant humans who think themselves superior by the ability to dictate and use. The animal utilizes and licks every last bone before it fertilizes the soil, giving back to its herbivorous feeders. We take and humiliate, ravage the offerings of our Mother Earth. We degrade and torture for the sheer pleasure of one's submission under our wing. We far too often travel beyond just the instinctual art of survival.

 

The rattle of metal is as deep as a bone quake. It's as if it is my own bones and this unnerves me. I think of Ethan's words and how he always tries to convice me that I am the most beauitful woman on earth. He'd shower my bones with adoration and tell me they were ivory if he could only see them. Ethan was a loner, though an often friendly one, who had a habit of seeing the world as I did. His eyes were clear like moonstone revealing the gateways to his soul. Eyes that never cried, though they were always raining. They caged a sad awareness behind them. I looked up to him for his wisdom and brutal honesty about life and humanity. He spoke the truths that others were too timid to touch upon and what many were too narrow-minded to face. I was secretly afraid that his own knowledge would entrap him someday.
 

Author's Note

Fragments. Possible excerpt from memoir.