I am too often lost in my desire
to know before I know to be safe
to not cower beneath bed sheets
pretending to be sleepy and tired
all the while afraid to be myself
to step open into a newer day
flowing like light across the earth
awash in life’s extant glory
my self-consciousness wears
like knives pulled for decades
across whetstones sharpening
yet destroying itself in the process
of becoming useful or simply becoming
comfortable within the shape I create
(January 21, 2016)
subtext 