hide away mask girl — part 2
Ekaterina is an amazing photographer. I hope my poem does her photograph justice.
Do not be a child of Sylvia Plath
with gas and all or denied rank and fame
and locked away from your science and math
because of your biology. Reclaim
that which I wished for you but lost; the same
passion to laugh your mother has. The glow
of your aunt at politics. The nickname
your young sister was given in judo:
“Walking Death.” Live in solitude and play
rough. Go to parties. There will be whispers
when the host finds you under the tables
playing “peek-a-boo” in your hide-away
mask. So what? Be open to visitors,
to the wind, to the presence that trembles.