Mulberry St.

I was accidental.
Words were loaded
Tongue in cheek
Charged.

At seventeen I stood
In front of a crowd
In midday spring
Shaking from my slavery
To roaring dreams.

I read to them
They nodded
While staring at ceilings
Shifting legs
Clearing throats with a “hmm” and a “yes”
Paranoid
bursting like a light bulb
hysterically silent and screaming from behind my eyes
with a bang
Sweating
Swearing at dead relatives.

How great it all has been
How smart I seem to be
How wise beyond my years
With despair and fear in front of me
Back turned to mountains
And trembling grass blades

I finished my poem
Someone dropped a cup
Shattering like my knees splitting into ceramic shards on stage

Under my feet
splashing
spilling tea or was it coffee?

Smiles
Quick acknowledgments
almost unnoticed
as a tigers haste.

Zoo, I thought
prison, asylum,
any place else but this
I misfired