As I arrived at the apex of my life
I took a look around and saw
that I was not myself as I once had been,
I am now a faint copy, soft lines with blunt edges.
There was nothing sharp, dynamic or bold left of me.
I sacrificed my inner fire to create
a more welcoming environment for somebody else.
I had turned myself into a picket fence
when I was once not only a steep mountain
but the entire horizon.

I have known
rage intimately
I was born with
eyes so red that
they named me
After a meteor.
everything I touch
Recedes or envelopes in flames.
mothers warned
their sons about me
said girls like me
were touched by
the devil
you could see it
In the way, I walk,
In the way I let
my hair fall,
In the way I never
Avert my gaze.
In my country
girls who reveal
Too much are set on fire...
mothers warned
their sons about me
said I was notorious
for leaving trails of ash
behind.

My teeth sink
to the bottom of my tongue
I bite my words cutting them
into halves then quarters
then numerous flecks
of unintelligible nothings
until I finally learn
to dissolve my anger
like a pill fizzing into water
I diffuse, I remain calm,
unchanged by any
Outside interference.
In this subtle way
of no swords drawn
I conquer my enemies
depriving them of reaction.

-t.o.