Break Glass in Case of Emergency

 

Break Glass in Case of Emergency

I feel like a ship in a bottle,

various pieces of me, over time,

tweezed and squeezed into

an attractive unnatural display.

 

Assembled slowly in this

new environment, the bottle

feels like home, like where I belong.

 

Upon completion, I’ve become a prisoner.

As a fully formed being, I may never leave

as long as the bottle and I are intact.

 

To escape, breakage will be required.

The bottle does not know it is a prison,

while I fail to recognize my own captivity.

 

Only a force outside the symbiotic delusion

can break the bond that neither of us comprehends. 

That force also gets to pick sides in the separation.

 

Smash the bottle, and I can be free, unless

too much force is applied. Shake the contents,

and what’s left are little broken pieces of me.

 

Perhaps my remains can be poured out

onto a countertop and with attention,

care and reassembly, I may sail again

and be free.

 

SMG