“Vanity, saith the preacher, vanity!”
Is it you, always, or is it never me
I am immune of all responsibility
How do you live in the skin of your humanity
yes, it befell you, but I’m cloaked in invincibility
even though, true, I’m not river dipped like Achilles
but, I don’t need a walk light to cross carefree
smoking, eating let me gorge my belly
what do you think — my genes? obesity
I’m one with, I’m here, chosen by a deity
as you fumble with catechisms, your futility,
you should, you shall, you ought your reality
but look at me, not one disability
I don’t need a mask, what’s the probability,
I’m special — I’m different — on that, can’t we agree?

∞

Submitted as part of “National/Global Poetry Writing Month” (#NaPoWriMo #GloPoWriMo).

Today’s prompt:  Day Twenty-Three:  “Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that responds, in some way, to another. This could be as simple as using a line or image from another poem as a jumping-off point, or it could be a more formal poetic response to the argument or ideas raised in another poem. You might use a favorite (or least favorite poem) as the source for your response.”

Author’s Note: I took the first line of Robert Browning’s “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church.” A poem I have long loved, though certainly not when I first read it in high school. That said, I studied it often and it has sat with me as one of the first poems that I had to really work at to understand and which in turn left it’s own mark.

30 Poems in 30 Days

All text and photography © Dale Schierbeck

…. more of my original Poetry on EatsWritesShoots here.