Kennzeichnung | a trauma poem

that day rushes back to me

that day is in my blood pumping

the before and after

something within me tries to think ahead

imagine the worst

for some twisted kind of protection

it shows me the past and the past and the past

and warns me that it found its place in the present

that it will find its place in the present

and I wonder when my body has split in two

how can my body not know the truth

the past has a lot of faces

the past rekindles a lot of places

and what did I learn

taking all these steps forward

and away

but I never left the premises

without my tokens of remembrance

without my body

without your body

in my mind

the before and after

the altogether different

you feel the same

but you don’t look the same

there is a past inside my body

that tries to spread out its wrinkled injured wings

I don’t know whether it wants sunlight

or to burn bright