I am as ancient as the rising sun
yet rainbow-Mohawk fresh and new
I am not like other teen girls-
I thunder

I quake
I break

instead of lie
I know
if I never despair I will never joy
and so I stand up for the thousandth time
my brains and hearts and hopes
dashed across the marble floor
I've entered something dark and strange
and came away knowing
I've touched the eye of the white tiger
and came away knowing
I am alone in a wood
with a black-and-white-photo silence
the safety of my black cape and hood gone
now I wear the whitest white
of a dress
as ancient as snow and as white
as all frail things
I lean back
onto the floor of decaying leaves and earth and broken promises
where everything eventually falls
breathe them in
my legs folded beneath me
my dress is as long as those of fairy-tale chicks
but mine is different
my grand white dress is stained
with the cold, wet red at my chest
a shade as fresh as my dear wound
mine is real
I cradle my heart like an unborn child, breathing inside me
because she is
( ... the white tiger ...)
and so I stand up for the thousandth time
my brains and hearts and sorrows
dashed across the forest floor
armed with all I know
with all I've lost
with all I've forgotten
with all the times I've fallen
with all the times I've
gotten back up
I dance
I dance like something dark and strange
I dance like tempests and hurricanes and tornados and earthquakes and heartbreaks
I WILL THUNDER
the entire world falls down on me and I let it
I'll let myself shatter
I WILL THUNDER
I'll DEMAND the light
that hides in a storm
to come out
and dance with me
in this mad dance
I break the rhythm of the tides;
the entire, raging ocean
surges into the land beneath my brown irises
I break the current in the power lines
as all the electricity of the entire world
is drawn to me
I am a magnet for the sun, rain, stars and moon
the entire world is bending, breaking, racing toward me
a dog barks somewhere in this chaos
all the fire's in my eyes
and for once I know it's there
power radiates from my silver eyes
as He nears the corner
and the verge of paranoia

in my skull

I am ready for him.