REASON

From my Character Diary

Born as I was

With a meager portion in the first place

I lost it when I was little

The fine lady seemed to have none

Reason

Odd thing, that

Its opposite much easier to grasp

What is the shape of it, the size of it?

The use of it?

It is none of the things I spied

When the fine lady talked her riddles

But perhaps there was a sprinkling of it

The tiniest salt of it

Though bereft of its flavour

Its nemesis, you see, is overpowering

Eye-watering, tongue-burning

She died, the fine lady, of an empty belly

What murder it would have been to fill the caverns within

Her head, though, was always full

Spilling over

This spillage touched my eyes

No use, then, for

Reason

Not when I see the things I see

The fine lady's daughter has it on like shackles

Reason

Cannot be like Ma, cannot and will not

Poor Ma, tell me her stories

She bites her lip

Bites her tongue

Bites her hands together

Bites her eyes shut

The fine lady's daughter makes much of

Reason

It is not so with me

I do not make much of anything

Beyond the things I hold jealously, beyond

Reason

Because the fine lady's daughter is a fine lady herself

In all the senses and non-senses

Of the word fine

Flying in the face of

Reason

She does not see how I gnaw her shackles off

Why, I am crafty enough

To have made a slave of myself

To a mistress that does not know it

She bites her eyes shut

And I slit the wrists of her

Reason

Reviews

[iamshadowine]

nice poem! i really liked it! :) keep writing :D

[Laurie]

Thank you so much for the encouragement!