Skeletal Walls
I remember your skeletal frame
you know the studs in the wall
there’s a special sensor to find them
hang pictures things of beauty
they’re so delicate
fit my hips between two studs and sit
on the second floor like
an immobile swing set
and the scraps of wood all around
evidence of sweat
of math
scraps of crumpled paper
with design
articulated
in this anatomy
there are little eyes in the wood
something sensuous in the
soft cedar scent as night
falls
I go back to this place some nights
place of childhood of security
but always a subtle fear
drug dealers up the hill
in the woods
what would happen if I didn’t
lock the door
something like Poe’s
‘deep into the darkness peering
long I stood there wondering fearing’
but we return to our fears as our
safe spaces
so I found myself in the place
walls about me but
lined in visible plastic
rustling like shower curtains
give me away to the axe murderer
hiding
in
the
woods
blanketed by bare windows all the
devils of my
imaginary fears take satanic form and
stare at me through the panes
long teeth and lashes
bulging black eyes
leering
exposed and vulnerable like the
skeletal structure of the
house
how I wanted to wrap myself
in walls
but if you’re insolated by wool how will you
ever understand what happens
outside
your body
empathy is only born in those who leave
the curtains of their souls undone
but with it came perpetual fear
the uncertainty
so unnaturally natural
so exhausting unless you
accept it
you find others to cling to in the
bareness
to feel something – anything – that
comes from
inside yourself
rather than out your windows
crawl up the ladder
– remember the time I fell down
yes
what if I fall again
we’ll catch you
the floor is the bed like wood cabins
I used to visit
line up all my stuffed animals along
one exposed rafter
keep me company
safe
but no alone with the north wind
brushing her hair whispering words
in a language I don’t understand
in my ear
skeletons are so fragile
they fall to the concrete pavement and shatter
splintering like wood and sawdust before fire
until you never knew
that they were there
