Deep breaths raise my abdomen
like a distended balloon packed with healing heaven
control turmoil rankling within;
Mute angry beast
breaking promises like rocks on chain-gang.
I hold the pressure staging a coup in my passion
until release is involuntary.
On these stages
everyone plays their part.
Revolutionaries are paid
actors, cultural pimps.
Overseers play role of liberators,
Direct heated words to scorch pliant skin
leave third degree burns.
Permanent scars ripple
circles of love into towering rings of fire.
Tongue-lashed talent resemble gaunt
sacrificial lambs mislead to slaughter.
Decorated soldiers emerge
pieces of the prison.
Pull me back into illusive fantasy.
I part fastened doors once locked like lips.
Stretch defeated arms toward the sun’s replenishment.
Find rejuvenation and renewal
with each sluggish step away
from my fallen fortress,
an abandoned field
of broken word-bonds.
unwaogwugwu 