CALL ME BELOVED

Don’t pull me down.
I’m bowed already, like an icy branch
under all of this weight, so

give me lighter things, instead.
Soft and bright –

teach me to write again, and
straighten all of my lines.

Don’t let me dissolve into the crowd,
the pressing weight of bodies and
stories, voices; I can’t bear to listen –

there’s too much weight.
It isn’t safe.

2015 Poem-A-Week 03: January 15 – January 21