Baggage

she had accumulated
a certain amount
of “baggage”
she was forced to
take with her
where ever she went
it would be
rude
thoughtless
to leave it behind
make the care, keeping
of her personal baggage
someone else’s responsibility

she pictured her baggage as
brightly colored balls
floating in a swimming pool
red
blue
yellow
white
black
she avoided touching the
black balls with her
bare skin
they had a tendency
to snarl
bite
draw blood
crunch bone

neat, tidy labels identified them
recurrent nightmares
flashbacks
abandonment
rejection
humiliation
failure
unrequited love
divorce
the list went on
there was a white ball
for each of her dead
She did not like to
count the white balls
it made her too sad

she discovered that
it was hard to go about
her day to day business
with these balls
pushing their way to the surface
penetrating her consciousness
insistent
demanding
wanting her…