In the Catacombs

If I gave you measure to call me out
put a label square on my head
would it shift what you think
about that space inside my mind

catacombs where fields once lay
shadows in the place of sun
bones strewn instead of flowers
I was always this my friend

what has happened in the neat world
with tidiness gone, replaced with dread?
fear's child has shown its face
spawn of assumption's vanity

these are the thoughts that cross my mind
when I consider whether to open doors
allowing others to see the mess
supposed catacombs of the self

allow me to give you a tour
look to those parts that you'd abhor
I'm not saying that you will
(better safe than sorry screams my soul)

there are skeletons that bear a taint
wicked beyond the normal mark
dank artifacts of society
I'd be better off to discard

elsewhere the bones are of disease
of the mind or body each
a challenge faced while I live
overcome to some degree

this room is filled with politics
anatomy of give and take
where I stand may be irksome
this I hear from the other side

the last vaults are what I fear to show
where the bones lay piled on the floor
this is where I am most myself
how I define what God has wrought

who I love and how I romance
predilections expressed in private
how I see myself to be
in terms mind to anatomy

where attraction sparks my eye
with whom I seek to unwind
this and more makes up the sum
hidden deep in the catacombs.

© 2017, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20170214.

The poem “In The Catacombs” is about the parts of ourselves that are kept from the larger world.  These include prejudices, addictions, illnesses, political views, gender identity, sexual orientation, and romantic orientation.  I purposely listed these in a rough order of revelation ease.  I am also inclined to believe that the last ones most connect people even as they are the things kept from view until the last.

The poem isn’t the classic Valentines Day fare, but I think that truly loving somebody means accepting much of what may lay in their catacombs, especially the stuff way in the back that defines their definition of self and their relations to the world.