Sep 2013
there are mockingbirds in my bones,
I tell you,
and you laugh (I laugh too).
(the house is burning down around us,
but we don’t talk about it—
when there’s nothing left but ashes,
we’ll have nowhere left to run)
where did you hide yourself?
you ask me,
and I scream your name (you don’t hear me).
(there is a madwoman in the attic
and I talk to her at night—
she pretends not to recognize me,
and I pretend not to recognize myself)
sometimes I hear my mother’s voice,
I tell you,
and you say nothing (it suffocates me).
(once you called me lost and lovely
when you thought I wasn’t listening—
and maybe that's true,
but did you ever really try to find me?)
how can I forget you?*
you ask me,
and I ignore you (you didn’t really want to know).
I tell you,
and you laugh (I laugh too).
(the house is burning down around us,
but we don’t talk about it—
when there’s nothing left but ashes,
we’ll have nowhere left to run)
where did you hide yourself?
you ask me,
and I scream your name (you don’t hear me).
(there is a madwoman in the attic
and I talk to her at night—
she pretends not to recognize me,
and I pretend not to recognize myself)
sometimes I hear my mother’s voice,
I tell you,
and you say nothing (it suffocates me).
(once you called me lost and lovely
when you thought I wasn’t listening—
and maybe that's true,
but did you ever really try to find me?)
how can I forget you?*
you ask me,
and I ignore you (you didn’t really want to know).
Inspired by Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea.
