I Will Not Bleed for You

Weakness is not holy.

(a poem for the ungovernable, revised and sharpened)

They told me to be smaller

with a smile that smelled like bleach,

said humility is love

and obedience is healing

and my spine looks suspicious.

They said narcissist

the way a priest says unclean,

soft voice, clean hands,

already drafting the sentence

while pretending this is care.

I don’t kn…