Strip it away, starting
with the clothes,
the clothes your parents made you wear
or the ones you saw in ads
tailored
to your expectations,
or the ones you felt most comfortable in
even
when
the other kids
laughed.
When the rags are gone,
remove the flesh.
That weak corpus sheath that you had
secretly
tattooed,
and you told mom about the ink
once
when you were
drunk
but you're pretty sure dad never found out.
Peel off the layers of
subcutaneous fat
that you battled with
for decades
and still never saw abs.
Maybe it was glands,
maybe it was genetic,
maybe it was just
lack of effort.
Is there a worse shame
than self-shame?
Boil the meat until
it falls
from
the
bones.
Now is the time to dance.
Click and clack with ivory rhythm
these fleshless castinets.
Writhe until the sinews snap
and your scaffold collapses.
You're only spirit now.
Is this the soul?
No eyes to behold it
no fingers to stroke it
no nose to inhale it
no lips left to taste it.
And at last you are free.
This is what you can be.
Dramaless,
causeless,
and no following to lead.
Ready
for heaven.