This is a poem (and artwork) following the pattern of the Bukowski poem, “Bluebird.”
The Artwork: Bukowski’s Bluebird
The Poem: Bukowski’s Bluebird / My Lion
There’s a lion in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too safe for her,
I say, shut up,
nobody wants
to hear you.
there’s a lion in my heart that
wants to get out
but I keep her quiet with stories
of fear
and reminders that
she is small,
so my neighbors and bosses
and friends
of friends
never see
me
as a threat.
there’s a lion in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too safe for her,
I say,
be quiet, you want to be called a
fucking weirdo?
you want everyone to leave
us?
you want to blow our chances
at love?
there’s a lion in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m scared of what she can do,
so I only let her out
when we’re alone
when no one else can see.
and she becomes bigger
than my fear, like a
mountain
touching the stars.
then I make her small
and put her back,
but she’s pacing
in there, and I can feel her
expanding.
and we live together like
that
in our
silent citadel
and it’s painful enough to
make a grown woman
claim
her place
in this world,
but I don’t
take up space, do
you?