sacrifice of caged birds
by Alexandra Hartman
she is raw from touching ghosts
memorizing words for bitterness
she engraves laws in the palms of her hands
draws thick cloaks of solitude
loose around her shoulders
she believes strongly in the afterlife
weaves cheap bamboo cages
in her aching chest she knows the flat sound of isolation
is the price for harsh disdain
failure slick between her fingers
she presses thorns
into the whites of her eyes
she fears love
failure
feeling
anything at all
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