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Cait Harbs Mar 2017
Something within me is violently pushing against me,
as if the person I am is not who I am meant to be,
as if this body I wear is soon meant to be shed,
and if it is not, the pushing, trapped thing becomes dead.

Is my body the tomb for a conscious corpse?
Am I the imposter spy in the enemy's Peace Corps?
And this thing, whatever it is, is she my prisoner?
Why, why is she chained and fighting, but I cannot hear her?

Who is this weeping woman filling my veins with tears?
Who is this struggling creature outlined by the shadows of my fears?
Why do I know her and yet cannot recognize her reflection in mine?
Is this a punishment, a curse, a reparation from a forgotten war crime?

Is this what they meant when they said long ago,
If you don't find yourself, you'll find yourself lost on winding roads?
Perhaps she was me, but somewhere along that twisted way
I mistook her for a stranger and chained her to an unmarked grave,

Leaving this face to be the one presented at the masquerade ball
when I was meant to only be a placeholder; I wasn't meant for this at all.
Maybe this me wasn't meant to be the one who takes center stage -
maybe it was her, all along, who knows the lines to the play's page.

The question then becomes, if she is the person I am meant to be,
how do I unzip my spine, undress my skin, and finally set her free?
Make that a double, and don't skimp on the delusion.

Inspired by a friend who's struggling with feeling out of place - we've all been there, love.
  Mar 2017 Cait Harbs
Angel
Where do I begin my journey,
is it walking down the road without turning back
or is it driving past the red lights as fast as I can?

Running away never seemed to solve my problems
like a child throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the store isle.

No longer a teenager
waiting on mom and dad to deal with my anger;
Sitting alone in the corner wondering why the tears
keep rolling down like tidal waves across my face.

The car is on humming that beautiful engine sound
the birds are out and the sun is bright,
but I can't move my body to make that first move.

Am I waiting to make a change or am I stuck in the same routine?
I continuously ask myself as I feel the heat of the sun on my face
not knowing how to change.
Cait Harbs Mar 2017
Do you ever fall in love with echoes?
See dying embers and find yourself transfixed,
gazing upon them desperately,
for reasons you do not know?

Have you fallen in love with a starry night?
Knowing the stars are long expired but still feeling
a gravitational pull towards
those long dead lights?

I do -

I have fallen in love with far too many
weathered headstones,
lain my heart like flowers at the feet of corpses.
I have dared to speak
with the breath of ghosts roaming
galleries and libraries.

*Can you hear them singing, too?
I fall a little in love with every piece of art I read or see.
  Mar 2017 Cait Harbs
Gidgette
I live,
In the lucidity of dreams
Undreamt

Eternally naked,
In front of a crowd
Yet, dwelling
In a trench coat style
I'll bare you my soul,
Yet hide my face
I prefer my words, on the wind
Felt,
Never heard
A fading voice
In the chamber of
Never Unlocked
In the realm of things touched
I remain untouched
Unkown
Reality holds no fascination for my eyes
I went blind when the hopscotch grid got washed away by the rain

I live
In the lucidity,
Of dreams
Undreamt
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