I can wake up on the wrong side 
Of the bed today
I can let gravity pull at all my happy curves
My smile, my feet that skip
My stoical nerves
I can despair today
I can stare
At myself in the mirror for an hour today
I can have conversations with her today
Openly, honestly
Or maybe not
I can look away while I sit
In front of her looking at me                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
It’s that kind of a paradoxical day 
Full of contrariness, of rights and lefts 
Downs and ups, shakes and nods
Of sunny dawns and 8am thundery skies
Of bewildering vibes and double negatives 
Of not being entirely unhappy with things 
Not unstill … but still, not entirely still

The kind of day that hugs you tight
Holding you in the hollow of her hands 
And the next moment thrusts you away 
With a flick of her wrist. You’re stranded. 
Alone 
I look in the mirror trying to decide 
Whether I want to fret or if I want to fight 
Stew in my head or go at it
The daedalean knot loosens bit by bit

F-i-s-t-i-c-u-f-f-s, a k—ick to the ribs 
Right-into-the-leathery-heart-of-things 

I wage it out in a phantasmal bout
Unfailing precision, all contact bulls-eyed
Unfettering, releasing with every strike
I’m Bruce Lee and Catwoman rolled into one
Nothing’s enough. I go all out
Riding the bracing rush of my blood
Piercing through the eye of the storm

It’s Over, It’s All Done
The Battle Within Has Been Won

I take in a breath
Deep. Freeing. An all-organ sweep 
Another breath, reviving, serene
The contrariety for today 
Has been washed away or dry-cleaned
Either way
By machinations of the mind 
On battlefronts designed 
On psychogenic frontlines 
Or laundromats for bruises and stains
Either way, one way or another 
On the inside, the rumble is done 
I look into the mirror again 
Into the quiet depths of her eyes 
The morning rain has played its song 
The world is a patchwork of dappled sunshine
The lingering clouds are peaceful, unrushed
Like the gentle pulse of her bloodstream
For a few moments in the mirror today
Her tranquillity was in disarray
But she can’t despair, not today 
While the universe around her winks and gleams.