Three months ago, with knowing tone, she said:
you're well on your way to being dead.
And he declared, amongst everything else,
Nobody will love you cause you don't love yourself.

One can easily overcome being made to feel small
by sheltering her heart until she feels nothing at all.
Under scrutiny of my failures, it only makes sense
that my dignity be replaced by self-defense.

So my heart is a weapon not unlike a fist,
beating harder than the insults you can't resist.
You can project your intensity into me through ridiculous rage,
but know my own passion is like gravity in my ribcage.

(2005)