at times I wish I could take back what I said—swiftly

to keep the echoey, resounding effects at bay

unload the impetuous of putting flesh on the bones of

the topsy-turvy emotional baggage

hail from the ever-blurring days gone by

uncensored…

i’m hitting a plateau in disaggregating

what is compounded in my heart

a pang of gnawing thirst

calloused inundation

left me stranded, shambled in an unmendable—deep crevice

for the rest of my life

in the doldrums, i heard those understated words

irresistibly out loud

witness—the unseen dimensions of the true colors

of what made up flesh and blood

rekindle the boundless fire in the belly…

new rhythms (reason) for the new season

spring cleaning my heart and my brain

throw the unglued, the acrimonious, the bigoted, the delusional

the unspeakable, the whatsoever intractable

outta the window

let the errant midnight breeze run its course

i don’t have to edit myself for anyone

nor take a page from so-and-so

i cannot be altercasted into something i’m not

no more shenanigans

no more contestation

no more opacity

no more holding my tongue

no more self-induced suffocation

of being at war with myself

no more catering to the past does not serve the present

am marching to the beat of my own drum

like uncorking a bottle

the door to the raw, inter-galactic carpet is waving—graciously

glitter with a touch of collard green

on the flip side, a sure sign of freedom

engraved with a slice of full-blown eternity

wiggled—

fear not, have at it!

one shot poem by rose 17 January 2023