Self-Portrait as Out-Fighter

a man I’ve never met tells me to open
like a flower      but a flower cut

too soon won’t soften
into bloom       it stays

like a fist     so like a fist
I leave a mark

and all the heart I have
inside this tidy vessel    I’m disruption

the peace the room your shining
story     I unsettle I blemish I bloody

the ring with my memory
of you     we walk in circles

all these bodies underfoot
my future like it was

yesterday     we’ve lived this all before
a past we’re both bound to

in simpler times you’d call me
savage     a mistranslation

of survivor
I dodge your grip       I told you

didn’t I tell you    I can’t forget
to live       a feeling

curled inside me like a fist     a hit
telegraphed generations back

and just like that
red petals from your lips