Define Me

Define me as you wish.

As bones clattering beneath bedsheets, knocking together through the slog of rolling over, scraping soreness into muscles too fragile to fight back.

As immovable - the flesh does not comply, resistant to the pleas of a sordid, jaded mind.

As a liability, another mouth to feed from handouts, soaking up taxes to rinse a static life, clean from guilt.

A disabled body, disconnected from my soul, a cage in which I fight to break - the rusted bars clatter against my palms, exertion knocking me down time and time again, a battle to which I can never win.

Aspirations flutter by, only a few fly close enough, those small enough to slink through the gaps, where my palms can close upon them, desperation. Pocketing a future built from limitations.

Define me as you wish.

I will exist nonetheless - forever coated by labels, immoveable, as a warrior fighting a new normal.

....

This poem was written alongside my short story Sticky Labels. Please do consider reading it if you enjoyed the above and would be interested in context.

Thank you for reading!