There is a natural bubbling up

as we are forced into tight places

I had this feeling just about everywhere I went

It was like people wanted to know

where I fit

Usually, within minutes of meeting them

they would know

Sometimes, it was a compliment

like, “You remind me of Matt Damon.”

and at other times

I became everything they hated

a bad employee

or a conglomeration of crappy experiences

When that happened

they could never talk to me

a tension lingered

they wanted my total submission

and I could never give them that.

Day after Day

Year after Year

their opinions of me

repeated, like a record

in their narrow domain of reality

and there was no escape from it

People believed them

and my life in their proximity

became even worse

It was like I had two lives

one where I felt really good

and the other one

It was worse

when they paid me compliments

during formal ceremonies of politeness

and they pretended to like things about me

but afterwards

there was nothing

It was like they had the facts

but they didn’t want to see them

this building up has always been an eruption of natural action

and the first time I felt this release

a feeling of total peace

washed over me

I left their reality

for good

and it had no hold over me

things they said

were only words

and I laughed at their rules

Who did they think they were?

I didn’t want to challenge their authority

I didn’t even want to recognize it

Most rules are unnecessary

constricting

how we think

and what we do

It seems

we can’t escape them

but that’s just not true.