Once, long ago she screamed there was a young girl she screamed who was banished she screamed to a different country she screamed for her parents crimes: she screamed theft, assault, neglect, she screamed poverty, illness, addiction she screamed and her own, sure: she screamed boredom, precociousness, she screamed isolation, hunger, abandonment, she screamed softness, kindness, sweetness, she screamed when she arrived, first she screamed she spoke a language she screamed nobody knew she screamed she spoke a language she screamed nobody cared to learn she screamed yet she lacked language she screamed to clearly define it; she screamed the second thing she did she screamed was construct a mask she screamed that moved, she screamed that appeared, she screamed that sounded, she screamed that breathed, she screamed the image everyone wanted, she screamed and with that mask she screamed fixed upon her face, she screamed everyone set themselves she screamed upon their necessary task she screamed of carving up the young girl she screamed who looked like a scarecrow she screamed bit by bit, the toes, the fingers, she screamed the gentle skin that held her she screamed shape, the muscles she screamed that animated her, the bones she screamed so supple like rubber she screamed her organs (which were wrong) she screamed and even her thoughts she screamed until all that remained she screamed was a beautiful mask she screamed and several thousand screaming pieces of a young girl.
her
tuesday she asked me
when it wasnt safe to be
who protected me ––
who was her mask?
i was her mask. #poetry #plural