the forgetting

the forgetting
started early
things said
places

the panic
and the fear
of not pleasing
of being left

gave way to
misunderstanding
perhaps deliberate
it could not be
the way it obviously was

brains jumbled
together
into a grey-matter mess
until there is no longer
black and white
right and wrong
happened and not happened
it is all grey
it is all mush
it is all hidden
in plain sight

Swimming lessons

Shivering in early summer,
unprotected
in bathing suit
and bare feet
in the cool of the early morning
i walk the rough stones
gingerly,
crying out against the learning,
loudly protesting the change,
I hold my breath until
I breathe underwater
in my dreams.

the smell of crisp, dry leaves burning
the numbness of limbs out too long in the cold, cheeks flushed red--
unnoticed until hours later
and everyone else has gone inside
in search of hot chocolate and warm soup

Like a fragile bird,
tiny and young,
you are pushed
out of your nest.

Fragile and cold,
you are
loosing your feathers.

You shiver
and we must try

to keep you warm.

Like a rabid dog
you bite the hand
that feeds you

until we all
lie dead or bleeding
at your feet.

Like a black widow spider
you consume those who
want to connect

until there is
no one left
to help.