Inspired by “Let Me Begin Again” by Major Jackson

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Let me begin again as a skinny child
with scraped knees. Let me fall from comfort,
the inanimate garden of my mind, where
growers are satisfied and my mother
has time to listen. Let me begin anew, as an apple.
Fiddling with gravity, tricking the air.
Cunning little crop!

Let me begin as a great serenade, a melody striking the wall,
grasping beads of livelihood - the rotation running relentless.
Let me burn my finger on the hot pan when I
am too blameless to wait.
Let me not ever become a counterfeit - eyes maneuvering
as innocence sweeps my face.

Let me cry, weep an ensemble of gracious quarter notes.
Let me break the imposed, tear as my father curses upon it.
Let me linger in my security, like my mother holds her son
when he slips on a shoe thread.

Let me begin again as the image of a small child,
shrieking from the pain of alcohol on my open skin.

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