it is like this: they tear you away from yourself, screaming and crying,
and tell you it will be alright now, dear.

they redefine you, naming each and every part,
and when they can not define your flaws,
sit down. “dear -
dear"
“dear, won’t you tell this what this is?"
and so you answer for someone long gone
you bury the dead, and you answer for her.

it is like this: they tell you that she was everything wrong with the world,
and you’re here to replace her.
they tell you you’re a fitter model,
shapelier, built to par.

they leave you, but they have not left.
remember: you could not exist without them.
you are not you, you do not own you
you are them. you are what they want you to be.

trying to take one note of a very long song and guess the genre
or each note, individually, heard alone
and over each note plays countless other nonsensical melodies
jumbled and inseparable
is what they did to you.