Sara Borjas
Conditions for Poetry
after Rich Villar
You’ve got to feel trapped but know you can be fast.
Cover your hands with socks and walk backwards.
You’ve got to return instead of leave.
Your body must stop at nothing to be acceptable.
Eyes like dirty menudo bowls, brain of water.
You’ve got to feel trapped but know you can be fast.
Recall every flower you’ve ever stepped on so you’re
prepared when the poem asks you your names.
You’ve got to return each name you want to leave.
A desire that growls like crumbling metal
alarm clocks. A love as sticky as guilt.
You’re not trapped. Know you can be fast.
The sky is always taking something away. What made you,
left you here to explain them to your friends.
You’ve got to kiss their shadow instead of leave.
Enter your mother’s shadow like a gate to the future.
Run back and forth underneath it forever like a string of ants.
Even the trapped can learn to be fast.
You’ve got to return. You’ve got to leave.
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