Shedding Skins


Look at you, 
fading away to nothing...

No, not nothing,
just shedding skins;
finding the woman I am
— who I can almost remember being—
hidden beneath a multitude of layers
chosen for me
to make me who I am supposed to be,
encumbered by another’s
cast-off obligations
and rejected liabilities,
hidden behind a to-do list
written on the walls,
and beaten down by syllables
edged with lye

 skins once woven in the dark of night
from threads of unshed tears,
 while walking the line
painted on the bottom of my shoes,
 leading me in circles
within a confined space.

No, not fading away to nothing
but to something long neglected,
someone you knew was there
all along.


december 2007
Janet Reid