Trying to Talk with a Man

i never thought how it must feel
to have to be a mountain -
immovable, impassable -
when you don’t always feel like one

i never thought how it must hurt
when all that comes your way is cars
and you’ve been told to be a road,
though even roads can get potholes

i never dreamed that being you
was hard, too lost in my own pain.
that when you told me how it felt
to be sent back to stand
among the grease fryers, unseen,
as pretty ones were placed upfront,
that you weren’t just lying to me