Ten More Like This One Poem by Charlotte Ballard

I remind myself
That I am alive now
By choice, at choice
In choice.
A purple moment, embraced
By cross-tied buttons
Faded knit, and
Hamsters worn
As mittens.

I long for something more
A place where the noise
Is silent and
Tastes like fine
Crystal Wine marked
By a label too faded to be
Read.

My flesh is thin, there,
Where my brow lies
Over the bone. Common
So common. I whisper
For a promise, A keepsake from a time
That wasn't broken and tangled
With the regrets of this one.

A promise I did not keep
For myself, by choice,
In choice, in myself.