Evolution

At first I did as infatuation demanded
and wrote myself out in long strings of words
made my throat swallow the poison
opened wide to embrace division
returned again and again
to affliction

Then my mind released its thoughts
on folded paper birds that
descended out of light and never reappeared
still I searched for them
stared in the dark eyes of strangers

finding nothing lost myself, collapsed
slept cheek against the wall contorted
woke five hundred miles away
and stayed
thinking I could be a murderer of choices

So I interrogated trees to pursue wisdom
buried my feet in salt to starve them
never ever walked on grass
until subdued, they gagged themselves in shoes
forget their simple memories and dreams
and called this state adapted

I stood at the light switch
flicked it off and on and off again
burned the bulbs into masks of human faces
fled frightened to a sterile room with just
a mirror I mouthed stories at for years

Then the sun caught me in my sheltered corner
ripped me screaming out, said, Be a lion
but I'd forgotten all the words
lost the tune while digging trenches
still, I constructed new stick figures
led them wailing into the desert
trusting that the sand was pleasant