Black Labels

she reaches behind the smokescreen of her sunken eyed curtain veils films of tears void of translucence stoke reminiscent ashes that trace another blinding thick-skinned defeat hidden by camouflage and smears touched up campaigns of bravery her retinas a web of hallucinations illusion delusion cataracts and dreams stirred but not entirely shaken as she reaches for another glass to empty while numbness mixes with mirages of victory over hits and misses on battle lines of reconstruction a palisade and shield from truth her sentience slips into severance from memories epiphanies and falls from grace as she applauds the circus clown and crazy court jester she became to be in sadness badness insanity while holding on to fragmented shards screeching on the palette of many a brush with fate curses and agony she is a survivor of abuse and violence exploitation and deliberate transgressions and reaches deeply into her resolve to allocate anger to where it belongs instead of blaming her own kindness she lifts the olive branch closer to her tumbler spits out the hemlock and trusts that tears will dry once excoriations have dried up until then she is not the drunkard she is made out to be by sycophants and hypocrites who spiked her drink of life but merely coping for the moment and longing for solutions 29th July 2021