When the box defines my world
these four walls plus up and down
comfort springs from the norm
assurance given that all is well
no need to feel anything
outside of norms put in place
inscriptions meant to calm a soul
instead they’re bars I must endure

my elders designed it all with care
a committee meeting every week
in fair clothes and stolid masks
with rapt intent to wisdom’s tale
from a book to show the way
dead King James the editor
knowing all that must be said
interpretations unto this day

add to this the tribal angst
sage concerns stoked by fears
sprung from a blindness born
in the ignorance of what’s beyond
surely nothing may exist
for clustered kin of the same stripe
outside of planks that barricade
blocking strangeness from the group

in these walls I find madness
that sanity is not assured
even while the rules are checked
against a god’s hallowed reign
insurance given by long sermon
rules then tacked to crushing walls
pushing inward in due time
as I seek my rainbow self

I’ll step outside if you don’t mind
perhaps you do, it matters not
I’ll live again without regard
for constraints that tapped my soul
coming out will be my goal
leading others that correspond
to the mold that few embrace
outside of boxes that destroy.

© 2018. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20180723.