The Hollow Frame

I am running through winter,

the air is a knife And for a few seconds,

I live the right life Charcoal-dark paws kicking up the fresh snow

Sleek silver coat where the cold winds blow I leap for the

treeline, I reach for the air

Ready to vanish without any care But mid-jump the gravity shifts in

my chest And a familiar cage breaks the peace of my rest

I’ve got silver fur but I'm heavy inside A human skeleton hitched

to the ride I can feel my human bones locked in the

frame A structural ghost that I didn't choose to name I want

to be weightless, I want to be free But these heavy,

square shoulders are haunting the tree I’m a wild thing dreaming of

endless frontiers With a human spine

counting the years

My jaws open wide for a fox's sharp cry But the throat

feels too long as the dark drifts by I try to curl

tight in a den made of moss But my collarbones ache with

the weight of the loss Five fingers are hiding inside of the

print And the dream starts to crack at the very first hint

Of a bipedal stance,

of a flat-footed stride Trapped in the marrow,

just waiting inside

I’ve got silver fur but I'm heavy inside A human skeleton hitched

to the ride I can feel my human bones locked in the

frame A structural ghost that I didn't choose to name I want

to be weightless, I want to be free But these heavy,

square shoulders are haunting the tree I’m a wild thing dreaming of

endless frontiers With a human spine

counting the years

Beneath the soft velvet,

beneath the dark ink There’s a cage made of calcium making me

sink It doesn’t belong here,

it’s rigid and tall It’s the architecture of a human hall Wake

me up...

or let me dissolve The dream starts to fade as the morning

light breaks The silver coat vanishes,

the human frame wakes I open my eyes to the ceiling above

Stuck in the bones that I'm forced to love