SandScript 2020

You Shouldn’t Be You
Matthew Becker-Stedman
I once told myself
in view of a mirror
an insect must become a chrysalis—
the pupa of
oneself—
I have spun the web of comfort
silken strands a coffin bringing life
to lay down with dying breath
in struggle of rebirth
POETRY
worth remaining—
do not move from this,
it will break the trace
of all that has transpired
conspired
against the person I do not
understand the origin of change.
the transformation that has taken hold of roots—
not as water but as parasitic bites--
sharp and staunch in the sinew,
the meat of stasis.
why do you resist
inevitable as change, as dark and light.
to complete
is not to become new,
is not to become whole,
is to become you.
20