Birth Rite

This matriarchal affliction seeps through my blood.

A birth rite passed down through the X chromosome.

Great-Grandmother, Grandmother, Mother, Aunty, Sister,

We all have it. Cursed! Cursed, I tell you!

Apparently this loneliness is as deadly as living with cancer.

A forlorn assassin poisoning our hearts and minds.

An August Within

There is a curious void within.

An emptiness the size of an elephant;

An un-fulfillment that won't dissipate.

I feel fuzzy and strange within my head.

All of this moulding to wind up

Someone I don't recognize.

Integration failure.

What do I do with this girl then?

Too old to be young,

Too plain to be pretty,

Too awkward to be charming.

I feel different within.

It's like the outside and the

Inside don't match up.

Trapped within these walls,

Solitary confinement in a dim and

musky apartment with no furniture.

No amount of pictures can make this

Place cozy. It is not home.

Even the cat sits on his perch,

Dreaming of the outside.