Reflection

we’re greater than the sum
of our parts, they say
I don’t know how that can be true
if our parts are divorced

and I don’t know how free-will
can be real
when the hands who held the knife
that divorced Margaret’s parts
couldn’t constrain the knife
that cut Dena’s tethers to reason

I saw a disturbed girl today
and wondered if her behavior was forced
and how many parts she would need to lose
in order to go from “she” to “it”

maybe it’s a matter of waiting
to be hurt first
so we can blame it
on the It

that un-human
that demon
that devil
that monster

and save ourselves from the truth
that one day we’ll be her
when another set of hands comes
to cut our own parts asunder

-- Keegan P., Adult