I Am Free, I Tell You So... Poem by RIC BASTASA

your hair is in disarray
nails are dirty
and just like your feelings
all those little things
that hang on your body
are in chaos,

i look at you and you stare at me
and i look back and you laugh

triumphant perhaps in what you are finally
from an ordered past to a
present pandemonium you come to me and

shout at me that you are free,

i wonder, is freedom actually chaos?

i am free too,
i have worked my freedom and earned it

i comb my hair
i trim my fingernails
i wash my body
i filter my thoughts
i put things in their
proper order
i exercise propriety

i choose my words,
i plan my day
i only buy what i need for the day
i write my diary

i decide what book to read
i weigh things
i throw away what destroys me
i don't put myself to danger
i protect myself
i defend what is right
i speak the truth

and i will tell you too,

' i am free! '