11 (Paper Doll)

I am a terrible liar;
I can’t convince myself of the falsehoods I
now know to be true

I wandered mazes of concern and fear,
looking for a way through, questions asked,
repeated, avoided, rephrased

ways to circumvent myself considered,
discarded by myself and there appears to

be a prejudicial conflict of self-interest

the only answer seems to be there were
never any questions needing asking in the first
place…

but there are always questions

ones that rarely lead to answers,
but always lead to
questions, and those questions,
well, you know how that goes,
you’ve just come from there

every stair leads up and down in both
directions and culminates at your
starting point;

when you finally decide to be yourself,
something else decides it wants to be you too

Poem by Shane Douglas Keene

READ THE SERIAL NOVEL BY JOSH MALERMAN