cages - a poem

many times have i
approached another
only to find
they had erected
a cage around themselves,
fences and defenses
so that i could not
very easily
make my way through.

very well, protect yourself.
i don't mind. i don't need
to be that close in general,
anyway.

but
many times as i
seek to call a person friend
or lover or partner,
they lift these cages and then
place them around me.
not always are the cages steel
or spiked or jagged -
sometimes they're unseen and only
perceived as i walk closer

and then i encounter
the world of shock between us
that is your fear
of inadequacy. or
your fear of a challenge. or
your fear of a future
in which
you step out with pride.

why do you put this barrier here,
when we have
so many to face
around us already, set by others with
all ill intent?

why do you say
this, i cannot control
as if you did not just slip
the pins into the hinges,
bar the door,
and then forget how to lift?

just a tiny step backward
and we would not
even have known.

why is this cage even in
your possession? other people,
other times, other lives -
your answers can be so casual
as to suggest this could not
tear out our hearts.

where is my pride?

each time i fight
my way out
of these
inadvertent prisons
i find more.

each time i think
perhaps
i have gained in strength
or skill in slipping-through
or even patience
until you learn to lift again
and then look forward
to the day we can walk by each other
rub shoulders
and connect

where is my pride?
where have the beasts gone
who are noble and savage Both
and proud enough to take down the walls
and fight/love?

get the fuck out
of your cages
and congregate.
i am lonely.