just beneath the
bright white shirt &
paisley
tie
lies a seething
pool of
anxiety
which is a
remnant of the
violence of my
childhood
which is a
remnant of the
madness of my
mother's
childhood
which is a
remnant of the
craziness of my
grandmother's
childhood &
on through
time.
anxiety, it seems,
is an incendiary
mixture of anger &
fear––
a flammable
concoction, which,
when exposed to
life, burns like
hell.