the digits on your hand become the letters of your poem

become the words

of a sometimes long lost cause

you've never shied away

from most of that

like your father

taking the medicine

because it's pointed deep at his underbelly

where the traffic is mostly chaos

& the courtrooms start out

being rigged

there are many ways

to break through the fog

and claim enlightenment

mostly though

it's self-pity

egocentric self-delusion

(am i being redundant?)

taking the lead

convincing yourself

that there will be no one else

in the trenches

when the shells hit

--- e b bortz