A Checkpoint On Despair Poem by RIC BASTASA

who is despair?
do i know her face again?
she was with me for years and years
and she was too cruel
beating me with her
paddles and piercing my skin with her needles
my body has pins and pains everywhere
until i get tired of her
and rejected her

honest
despair can be rejected
i have done it
once and i shall do it again
many times

Tina says
i am on my denial stage
she is wrong
i am in this state of freedom
i have a checkpoint
and i am the soldier
that screens who goes in
and who goes out
from my system

despair is out
happiness is in
it is not a matter of fate
it is a matter of choice
for now i have declared
my freedom

i choose
and i always win