When they ask how I’m doing

(2023)

I could be normal and say I’m okay
Or

I could unravel before you
open my scars in the hope that you’ll find me
interesting. I could tell the truth,
tell stories of the three-horned creatures
that pass by my room at 3 a.m.

I could tell you how uncomfortable
I feel in my own skin. How uncomfortable I feel
is how I’m really doing. I could unravel
before you, praying that you take me as I am.

But I don’t ask for acceptance,
and you don’t ask for poetry

So I say I’m okay
in the hope of being normal.