i want

i want to cry boldly

my insides flushed of toxic sins

i want tears to fall freely

my lungs filled with scented grace

i want my mind scraped

my barnacled thoughts replaced

i want to collapse open

my heart nourished on chaste blood

i want fresh fields to sow

my imagination stocked with verdant visions

i want virtue to flow fluidly

my weaknesses proudly owned

i want bent me to be habilitated

my tarnished burdens renewed

i want my old man to become woman

my woman to birth a new man

*I left Alabama in 1961 and never went back to live.  Not because I disliked it but because living outside it, I can see it more objectively.

-William Christenberry

*The virtue lies in the struggle, not in the prize.

-Chinese fortune cookie