I

When did I learn the word “I”?

What a mistake. For some,

     it may be a placeholder,

     for me it’s a contagion.

For some, it’s a thin line, a bare wisp,

     just enough to be somewhere

     among the gorgeous troublesome you’s.

For me, it’s a thorn, a spike, its slimness

     a deceit, camouflaged like a stick insect:

     touch it and it becomes what it is:

ravenous slit, vertical cut, little boy

     standing upright in his white

     communion suit and black secret.