The Phoenix Sings: A Book of Poetry by

Poetry has been a way of expressing the inner feelings I've had about my unusual life. I was disfigured as an infant by a burning kerosene lamp, resulting in years of reconstructive surgery and a life apart from my family, being adopted by cousins. I feel like the phoenix that rises from the flames. The Stare What hurts one so about a stare. The look that puts one on a pin, That stabs your heart without a care So curious lust is satisfiedWith rape of eyes that probes each pore, Intruding with relentlessness, The questioning that crawls like worms Over every inch of skin? You want to run away and hide; Instead you sit there, humbly, sore, Aching with defenselessness. It's you the victim, you who squirms, Yours the deficiency, the sin. The animal instincts serve us yet, The pecking order still is here. The rational mind makes us forget How thin indeed the polite veneer. Anniversary Song These were the happiest years I've lived, The seven we've been together. The storms were few And in between Was a rainbow of life, Every hue Of fun and joy and calm delight . . . So many moments I know not whetherI could choose the best For comparison would beggar