PERCHED PARCHED BUTTERFLY

The Drop

"When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time."

- Laurie Halse Anderson, "Speak"

I'm not a good dancer.

I can't dance on the grave of It just yet because

    I'm pigeon-toed.

    My friends tell me to forget about It.

My friends tell me what they know and not

from the severity of what you gave me.

    They innocently look at someone who's had their

    innocence impaled to death and dragged out into the woods.

    "White ass bitch", she says about you, trying to make me laugh, as a

    panic attack forms within my throat and pops out like a cuckoo at your picture.

I am a directionally-challenged ticking time bomb.

I will not be here forever, it's known.

I cannot let this cut off my thumbs forever.

    I need to write my words into teddy bears so that

    I can feel them and be not afraid.

I

I

    I

    I have become a survivor for the sake of living.