Eponymous

By Paul Killebrew

I am unable to jump more than ten feet in the air.

I am blind. I am unable to understand the dark

passages. I begin to speak of being deprived.

I believe that I am being kept in want. Who

governs me? Who is to say what I am,

and what I am not? I wish to be conscious

of myself. My frontiers are long and insecure.

I contract them. I cannot command them.

I determine myself not to desire what is

unattainable. I have a wound in my leg.

I am a schoolboy. A rule does not oppress me

if I impose it on myself. I assimilate it

into my substance. I can never be thwarted.

I cannot want it to be other than it is.

Copyright Credit: Paul Killebrew, "Eponymous" from Flowers. Copyright © 2010 by Paul Killebrew. Reprinted by permission of Canarium Books.

Source: Flowers (Canarium Books, 2010)