[Susan McLean]

The Year of the Snake

I have peeled off my skin again.
Shedding the seamless life I'd made
feels blistering, like being flayed.
I'm more unshielded than I've been
in decades. Aching, raw, bereft,
I search for any salve to numb
the oozing wound that I've become,
still reaching back for what I left.

How much I wish I could refuse
the price of living: to outgrow
the skintight sheath of all I know
and all I care about; to lose
my job, my house, my town, my friends,
as one life starts and one life ends.

Revisions:
L3 . was ,
L4 "shaky" was "rattled"; then line was "and I'm more shaky than I've been"
L8 "for" was "toward"
L12 ; was ,