THE PHOENIX
I breathed life into my anger,
And wrapped it in silken sheets;
I nursed it with my own blood,
Until it's shape mirrored my own.
I took my fear and plunged it
To the bottom of an icy lake,
And I left it there.
Emerging amidst expelled frost
Swathed in steaming breaths,
To perch upon the mountain.
And you, who took a piece
And never gave it back;
And you, who crippled me
And left me there to crawl;
And you, whose heel ground
My broken bones;
And you whose spit
Smacked me in the face,
And you who sought to steal
All that I held dear;
Your collective laughter burned me to the bone.
UNIFORM
Laid out neat in lines right straight
A granite garden consecrate;
Grouped so close all dressed alike
In simple blacks and trims of white.
They come to send off the dead
Dressed so similar as when they wed.
In the ground those whom they mourn
Stare eyeless in mildewed uniforms.
Tubes of metal, tubes of glass
Transporting legions shuffling past;
Numbered ID and cubes of green
Staring blankly at blinking screens.
Wearing khaki, wearing white
Dress code perfect, dressed just right;
They learn to earn and to conform
And how to wear the uniform.
Marching tall chrome glinting bright
The rank of file of the new Third Reich.
Boots spit-shined, hats form-fitted
Of uniqueness since acquitted.
They march not for men or laws
But for a less noble cause:
Same of brow and hair close shorn
And proud to wear the uniform.
Off to school in plaids and socks
New knit sweaters, neat trimmed locks;
Wearing packs with books the same
Assigned numbers, assigned names.
Rank and file they sit at desks
And what the teacher spews digest;
Gazing out the window so forlorn
Neat and natty in their uniforms.
Rows of bright lights and incubators
Fresh baked babies newly paid for;
Wrapped in blue or wrapped in pink
All are taught the same to think:
To grow up tall, grow up strong
To love my country right or wrong.
Into such sameness each is born
And each will wear the uniform.
Rising up out of charred ruin,
Smoldering simmering solitude,
Rising, horrible blackened beak,
Forged where flesh runs liquid;
Rising,
Talons tensed and arched,
Whipping wings fringed in fire,
Empowered, cleansed, whole.
Rising.
Rising!
And they will know me.
Each and every one.
I am the Phoenix.
