Fragile

Just a girl with a box trying to smooth

Out the lines and build a castle away

From this world. Too caught up in

Obscure directions leading places

I’d never conjured nor desired. With

Thoughts mismatched like socks

Riddled with holes like plots in my

Heart and soul, I’m pulling up stakes

To afford rent in a broken family

That speaks only to be heard, but

Never to be understood. “Fragile”

Was never a truer description of

Who I was back then, powerless

To stop the road from moving

Away from where I wanted to be.

Now I have my box and the rain

Melts the foundations of the walls

I’m building, watching my castle

Sink away like the memories I wish

I could forget. Alas, it takes more than

Water to wash away the ink that

Stains my identity from storms of

The past. Haunted by clouds destined

For monsoon season in the West Indies.

That’s probably where I’d go, just to

Escape it all. Instead I sit in my bloated,

Defeated box and try to keep warm.