Grew up on planet earth
But wandered often
Saw the eyes of friends and felt ashamed
Mistook the softness for the anger
Led to the fogged chaos, to the sadness
To the lonely nights that hissed and heated
It greeted her on the brink of mayhem
The words that flowed and faltered
That stripped bare the truth of life and love
Of words that puzzled her
And eyes that turned away
The poems they relieved her
Taught her to love
To meet the world halfway
She wears the shoes of others on her feet
And holds the hands of others in her own
In words she wrestles with the boiling confusion
That works at the thick of her skull at night
It settles and slips into the sand
Once she crawls through each syllable
And knows, then,
That meaning lies in meaninglessness
That poetry, its blithe disregard
For structure
And form
Untangles people and things, ideas
Reconstructs the disarray
And holds the answer in its mouth