INTERVENTION

I am an heir to a jagged edged apprehension:

no one and no thing will claim me

and,

by claiming,

teach me to claim myself.

As I race toward the grave

mainlining self-doubt,

snorting regret,

confusing mere stimulation for feeling and

pulse for life;

My repreve comes in

the echo of a soul writ large,

a voice laced with crystal sugar and

dichotomy;

singing of joyful misery without the

oft obligatory shame.

It is a voice that

repeats a vow I had only heard before

in dreams;

a promise

to cry my tears when I can't.

*Written in tribute to Amy Winehouse.  I wanted to express what her music has meant to me. Artists have the power to transform the consciousness of others, but they can pay a heavy price for that power.  I hope that Amy has the peace in death that she could not find in life.

-For OpenLinkNight at http://dversepoets.com/