Dear {Blank}
by Cassie Schifman '18
This is an exercise in self control in an uncontrolled medium: see
I once stayed over without my toothbrush floss or toothpaste and Despite your kind offer I simply did without, realizing That I would rather fill my mouth with cavities than with something not my own And really, I feel the same way about poetry as I do about plaque (a necessary evil) Because no one says lend and does not mean give or Borrow and does not mean steal or "Dear lord I am on fire" without expecting me to put it out. So let's talk about the City on the Hill with the unscalable Tower With a Princess who solves her own damn problems Let's abolish the notion of fairy tales from the outset From this moment on we each deserve more than just a sentence in your narrative (This is all just something pretty to say to keep me from getting bored, really To prevent me from wondering whether the voice behind the curtain Is really me or whether it was you all along...) This version of unconventional is what I think I'm supposed to want It's what I want to want To be solely my own Wholly self determined and self involved and just a little bit selfish Or if not, shouldn't I (by which I mean we) be something brightly dark Some cold contrasting color that doesn't make sense Isn't the point the opposition, the conflict The part where one of us ends up bruised and the other runs away with the crown? Isn't that what makes sense? Isn't that what's exciting? The problem is that I don't want to be the Princess in the Tower who saves herself I want to be the one who can, who possesses that ability But doesn't need to I do not want to be Ice and Fire I want to be Fire and Fire I want to be consumed by the simplicity of sameness Of something that is not stolen self identity Or a line of someone else's prose But which feels like the things I brought anyway: A fire extinguisher Free verse formed into contained thoughts And a toothbrush which is all my own. |