I: Penance

Take a vow
of silence. The tongue
a strap, the teeth

a buckle. Get rid of seventy-one percent
of your favorite things.

Set the house on fire
and climb in the bathtub.

II: Discipline

Holster your panic. Don’t believe
every voice you hear.
Yes, you are bobbing like a tire

in a river.
Here is some paper. Fold me a ship. Give it          
three masts, historically

accurate rigging. Here is more
paper. Fold me some deckhands. Make
them pants and shirts.

__

I was raised on guilt and abnegation.