I will not apologize for a poem
or a mirror or
humanity
I did not cut you open
I just handed you the scalpel
a sharp tool
to open up your mind-
to be used at your discretion

you took it apart word by word
and held it up first
against itself
tracing the rising questions
in your mind about
good
and bad
and
black
and white

so why does it trouble you so
to know
you are also
responsible for your slow
dissection

recollection slow regard
of your own dichotomy
have I mentioned
you are beautiful inside
and out?

even the monster living inside you
is just so comprehensively
human.