somen (a poem)

Photo via Visual Hunt

somen run away
afraid of life.

somen kneel
asking higher powers
for forgiveness.

somen wear
time-chains,
bulky metal signifiers
ticking away lonely hours.

somen climb walls
designed to feel
like cliffs because
life’s walls
are too rigid.

somen shake hands
as if the receiver
of the hand
might be impressed
by such a tight grip.

somen worry
that other men
are judging them
worrying, like teenage boys,
about their voice and posture
afraid of how they might
be received.

I am not like
these other men
still I walk
around in this
man body.