The Poetry Marathon

i first read the word indelible

as inedible, which also described the ink used in tattoos. i didn’t learn of possibilities

like mercury poisoning

until later

when i determined the description “so heavy metal”

apt

lining shed as though emergence from cicada skin, shell discarded

along with it – breadth and depth

knowledge of captivity and familiarity with one’s surroundings

but solitary confinement was only lucked upon (if one could call it luck), only slipped into

casually tried on (an untailored garment)

once the former life of the body had been discarded like something now ill-fitting, already well-worn