BODIES/BALANCE

by Leah Cappelli

 

Languishing in a state of dire straits,

he contemplates the rate of his life,

the ways of his strife,

the days and the nights.

 

An abecedarian learning to speak again

in his most recent reincarnation,

walking fine lines between monstrosity

and virtuousness.

How could it be, the people decree,

that minds within bodies know

less than minds without?

 

Your imaginary friend

knows more than

your mother

does.

 

Ruthlessly unscrupulous,

in silence it creeps

down dark alleys, neuronal pathways

ventricles and vessels, restricting blood flow,

constricting progression,

it helps him forget

halts his regret, but

begets his distress.

 

Allegiant to his core, his imaginary friend,

his confined concubine,

explores his insides and

decides how it

wants him to react

to adoration or

attack.

 

Loyalty,

integrity,

equanimity.

 

He realizes it may

have the upper hand,

it may have the right of way.

 

He cannot escape the

maddening grip, though

it is a symbiotic relationship.

 

He would wither without it, and it

would be whisked into the wind

if he rescinds his right to

bend and balance,

to love and

cower.

 

Leah is a psychotherapist and poet based in Staten Island, New York. She has been published in Babbling Of The Irrational and is working on her forthcoming chapbook, Radiate and Resonate.