.
a hammer
looking for something to nail
didn't know what to do
or what to say to you
took me a long time
to grow into my own mouth
open up this chest
to fill my shoes
empty when I first found them
skin so thin couldn't conceal
the heart on my sleeve
chip on my shoulder
the bruises all over my ego
took years of awkward
exchanges on aching knees
to figure out where I stood
waiting for a place in this world
to find me
saw red
while watching this space
burnt bridges
just to keep this spot warm
when I grew up
I wanted to be
the best thing
that ever happened to you
and then that never happened
...and the story gets confused
‘round the time they told me
I couldn’t ever touch you
transfused blood virus
before we’d ever figured out
what exactly touch was for
life on hold
a hammer
looking for something
a blunt instrument
missing the mark
missing the right questions to ask
there was a hole to fill in my mouth
and I couldn’t grow up fast enough
to catch it
I caught Hepatitis C
had it by the tail
-end of my fourteenth year
and wasn't going to live past thirty
had it so I couldn’t have sex
had it and that became
everything that I couldn’t get
women a thing I couldn’t get
you became only
what I could get mad at
couldn’t reach out to you
you couldn’t touch this
infectious adolescence
I hated you for that
indulged my fat anger
when I couldn't
satisfy my starving affection
threw out so much
over-muscled rage
trying to shake
it was raw
it was big and loud
hard down there
it had no handles
no sides to hold on to
to get over
said fuck the world
really just wanted
to make out with it
until one day
a cure came for me
out of nowhere
injected six months of
interferon into my life
medication
for whatever doesn't kill you
makes you a prick
of a needle
in the belly
by twenty six
of the longest weeks suffered
it worked
it worked the poison out my blood
success
that was nine years ago
and I have been negative
ever since
so to speak
escaped that fate of a failed liver
I got to live without expiry dates
or a best before label, again
so where now
I was a prick
looking for a cure
hammer looking for a nail
growing into touch
learning how to feel it
how to express
it took me
a long time
an awful-long time in the getting
to grow into my own mouth
to open up this chest
to fill my shoes
I got through Interferon
got over the Hepatitis C
that I got from being a Haemophiliac
and in all of that
I got older
faster than I should
acting like such a tool
like such a prick
you haven’t felt
the needles the nails
the medicine the waste
the policy of no refunds
on years spent angry
can't change the past
but can unmask my scars
here
medication taken
health restored
liver forgiven
to heal this
ridiculous long list
of everything left unfixed
filling my own shoes
no small feat
if you want to keep growing
I want to keep growing
I am a man
given another chance
I survived long enough
to tell you this story
how it is
that I’m not dead yet
more life left to me
than I quite know what to do with
very much alive
and plan on staying that way
but beyond needles and nails
I still have no idea, really
how it is
that
I’m supposed to be living
_____________________________
-Peace
.
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