A Self Made Woman

^{by a. gagliardi}

The responsibilities of life consume her.
The urge to step out slides over her like a lover in heat.
Her burden too much, too constant, too immediate---
The tasks of job & school, of childcare & housework are unending.

Everyone wants a piece of her.
They use up her molecules like ravenous sharks at a feeding frenzy.
Their cries of need echo & reverberate in her still darkness at night
Until she can no longer hear her own voice.

The sheer number of tasks climb & cling like a Bindweeds cloying & enveloping.
Their odious weight of ownership vexes & haunts until she sinks so low. . .so low. . .so low.

Her stifled breath staggers as she swoons,
Believing any exit is better than none at all.
Invisible slash marks on her wrists yearn to become real.
Stacks of sleeping pills rise like skyscrapers on the night stand, watching & waiting.

The unintended car crash seems ever more imminent & necessary.
“I want out!” she screams in her mind.
The weight of her life sucks her down into a quagmire of drudgery.
And yet . . . .she carries . . . her self-made oppression . . .. ever onward.