#outside

i wear my mother on the outside
shining brighter than bioluminescent
plankton in the sea
innocence coughs
a phlegm of yellow naivity
in the flame of a lighter
despite the cavalcade
of peculiar pregnant silences
you might sometimes
see straight through me

i wear my mother on the outside
with no fault of my own
inherited simplicity and
mindlessness
mistaken kindness
adorned with blindness
you’d think there’s nothing going
on behind the curtains of my
shreded lashes
but you’d be wrong

i wear my mother on the outside
of no decision of my own
repeatedly relapsing
my chances are half-choices
chosen halfs
of unencumbered wishes
broken paths

my muted truth
trapped in the chasm
of my ashened soul
i wear my mother on outside
nowhere to hide
nowhere to go