I was never the girl who knew what she
wanted and expected nothing less. The
one who walked with a confident air, flipping
her long silken hair over her shoulder, flashing
a smile the brightness of a dentist’s fantasy.

I was never the girl who could speak with
ease about Nietzsche or China’s economy
or debate the social relevance of some
obscure ‘80’s Punk band. The one who only
wore white after Memorial Day, had the perfect
manicure and never a stray brow out of place.

I was the girl who loved the sparkle
of the stars in an inky night sky, beaconing
Morse code from the heart of the universe,
but I could never remember their names or
the constellations they lived in.

I was the girl who loved The Blues, the
earnest, heart-aching want that reached out
of the radio grabbing me by the throat
where the beat of my pulse thumped like a
wild thing in harmony with those who wrote
such tormented words with the blood of their loss.

I was the girl who loved the written word that
took me to places I could only imagine,
exotic cultures and lush landscapes
were the companions of my daydreamy world.

I was the girl who walked barefoot through the
woods with the red dust of Mississippi between
her toes and long silent days to contemplate How
Things Are and How Things Might Be.

I am the woman who changed How Things Were
and became who I wanted to be.

****

”Divergent Paths” was Poem of the Month in Long Story Short, May 2012.