The Insider Poem by RIC BASTASA

you know there is someone inside me
it speaks

i hate to listen to this creature
it sounds like myself

sometimes it demands something that
horrifies me

and i don't want to give in
because it seems not to mind if i am hurt most

i press it like a marshmallow
keeping it small and almost invisible

but this creature knows how to scream
like a cow and to stop the humiliation

i finally give in and keep myself
running pursuant to its instructions

it drinks some blood from my dog
sips it like soda

it bathes itself in mud and does not
want to be rubbed

it shows itself naked in the mall
what a shame to my soul

but then when all his wants are given
it says sorry and then says that now i am free

it hides inside in my tummy
and then sleeps there all day

now i am back to my senses
on a life of compromises