Irrtum | a poem

who are you?

is a terrifying question

a transgression

an invasion

if you don’t know the answer

*

maybe I don’t know you

who you are

who you were

and will be

but I know who filled the room with poison

but I know who raised me to destroy his own image

and memory softens into a ventilated coffin

*

you have been the most threatening thing to come home to

acting as if you didn’t know it

and scars were scars

because what are scars

a flinching mass grave

if you survived another day

let them rest, little girl

*

and I amassed life under my blanket

waiting for an empty page

keep the fire at bay

in plain sight

burning still

behind glass

and collected words

will find their mangled scars