When I Claimed to be a Man
I claimed to be a man once
Looking back.
At least,
Hacked out into a
Lean and modest frame of one.
Carved from the hot earth
Into craving and behaving
As most men have done.
For as long as history tells us so.
But now these unfettered days
Are past.
Like the father’s child
Masked by grief
Time has been memory’s thief to me.
And I no longer see
Or feel
Or remember
The hazy face
Of slender, trembling warmth
Or ragged breath against my teeth.
The mess and torture of what
Came so naturally
Back then,
When I claimed to be a man.
Beautiful piece!
I re-read this today and now feel compelled to comment. It landed on me differently than the first time I read it. I love this:
"the mess and torture of what
came so naturally
back then,
when I claimed to be a man"
So relatable to me. So too was "hacked out into a lean and modest frame of one".
I love how other's words can offer me a perspective different than my own. I've done a lot of work on myself over the years that has got me to this version of the man that I am, and yet I still value other ways of seeing the old me, ways that lay outside the covers of the book of stories I've written.
Thanks for putting yourself out there.