What we were taught to want:
The things you think you are:
And what I have done
To be slowed to be in this moment with you:

Categorically, strange. Sizing ourselves up
Against the night sky, a television family,
A print ad for discount shampoo.
Purchased physical beauty, where stretch marks
And scars (the places where I have held you
Imprinted on my skin) are battlegrounds
To be conquered, where my body
Is primed for commercial  conquest.

There is no affirmation for deviance.
If you create, if you challenge or create
Or catalyze or incite, you do so
Because you must. There is no
Narrative without your labor, but
They will tell you that the story is already set.