Winning a Place In the World

She peeks around a corner to spit a seed at me in my dreams then turns her head pretending not to know of it sometimes she is in the body of a 10 year old mocking me or she appears suddenly in a hallway behind me tossing cold fragments of an orange that angrily land on my head I turn and there she is stone faced arrogant I used to work with her in an office she twenty years younger than I we from different generations cultures family dynamics Me.. with my soul crying from the emptiness of my surroundings she, dramatically, making sure every day Everyone saw her see me see me she screamed through her hair and clothes She would act as if at a party and laugh loud and as she walked away it landed like angry crying She liked to play with people's relationships what she could achieve for the day wasn't complete until she severed others connections and make her own stronger she brought her games out each day hoping to win a place in the world so every day her tricks told her story that inside she felt small and powerless and spent her days in glamorous vengeful efforts to remedy her affliction I saw her and she knew so she worked hard to squelch me hard she saw me too not interested in playing competing or scheming she landed like a hawk on my defenselessness She was beautiful and smart but she stole it away from herself because she didn't know Poetry: Winning A Place In The World By Susan M. Walker, 2015