Face to face

First

I remind myself of everything:

the diadems denied;

the public spaces where the body

must hide its shape;

the speeches that must be memorized

while one season sinks and another appears

like an unread page;

the oppressions that preclude our pleasure

in Nature;

the crawling of empty, worn-out dreams

as our seasons come to an end.

Then

I reject it all:

the mistakes of history

the slashes that outline the body

the destruction of the imagination

the wrongs that have entered our veins.