Praying For The Sky Poem by RIC BASTASA

the decision to change
for the better-
like getting rid of a fat body
and having a new athletic
fit one

all for health and all for beauty
and all for the good guts inside us

what is it like Sammy?

I am not a snake
but i read it
and then i know how it feels to molt
like one
with all the accompanying pains
the moment
you shed off
skin.

in this ponderous moment
i am shedding off an old self

and like a tree that sheds of
all its old leaves
you do not have to tell me how i look

a tree without leaves all fingers now
bare, thin, dry,

but praying for the sky.