I burned myself,
because my Catholic conscience
got the better of me.

I told myself it's what
God wanted.
I've a touched a man

and let him touch me
before exchanging our vows.
I'll wear my veil

to hide my guilt
and my shame.
I'll hide my burns.

Burning myself
wasn't enough,
no water hot enough.

Red splotches covered me,
I wasn't satisfied.
I don't deserve to look

"normal."
My mistakes must be
exploited,

because I tell myself
I'm a *******
and I want to burn this ****.

A teachers heart is one of learning.
Of constant modification.
Lending pieces of it at the sound of a child's voice.

What is not seen  
Are the broken parts.
The times when my heart falls out of my chest.

My child, I am sorry
My child, you don't deserve it
My child, here is safe

A heart of protection.
Showing each student their worth
Value more valuable than the words of this poem

Without you my child
My heart
Would simply

collapse

sever me from my chords.

For No longer do i wish think anymore.

take me to a tree.
let me hang like october leaves.

theres nothing,
no sign of life
left
in me.

lay me on the ground,
To wash away from the rain falling down.
there's
        no
         life
            left
                  in
                        me

I am dyslexic,
And I can spell:
D-e-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n.
Font wards and backwards.
I can invent new ways,
How it looks,
sounds.
I am dyslexic
And I stumble over the word:
L-I-F-E.
This lyfe's
Syllables I have yet to conquer
Or the ability to make it possible.

Life

                               Lyef

           Liph

                                
                                           Lief

Since when was your body what defines you?

I've been so detached from this body
Since I can begin to remember-

I am not the free form freckles that crawl up these legs.

Nor the angles that form curves,
I am not this body.

This foreign object I reside in
I decorate.
I paint,
I cut,
I dress,
I hang my decorations;
To make windows.

Make windows,
To peek through thick walls.