From some sordid soup emerged
besotted with needs
and primal urges.
Cajoled and corralled
into structures
a lesson here
a teacher there
a game.
Built and broken
til I could damn stand tall
a minister turned truck dispatcher
in tie and polished shoes.
This structure at least
I helped to build
head bowed back straight -
a bizarre simulacrum of humility.
Given such
how have I returned here
60 years deep into the rubble
back in my damaged Mama’s arms
how have I returned here
a dusty denizen of this wasteland.