Rusty Nails and Lizard Scales
A Poem
Fuck
My armor is stuck
It’s starting to rust
In all of this rain.
Forged by fire
It holds me down.
Captivity.
Peering from the inside out.
My view is wholly incomplete.
A dragon sits on my shoulder
And roars and spits
At passersby
My pet, my soul
Perched right above my heart
Which escaped my chest
And reappeared on my shredded sleeve.
It atrophies.
Held in place with a rusty nail
As my skin breaks in protest
Of its uselessness.
My once trusty dagger, now a rebel
Digs into my flesh
Deeper, trying to loose the steel that has grown to be as much a part of me
As fingernails.
Like lizard scales
Like a tortoise shell.
It slows me down.
An anchor
Another weight to bear.
Today might be the day I break.
I drop my knife
And try to stay
Upright
— Just stay
— Don’t trip
— Just be
“Just being” isn’t enough for me.
I Walk
Then Crawl
Then Sit
Then Slump
Then Lay
Then Bleed
Then Break
…
Then Sleep
