Katrina 

She cannot believe the words she is hearing 

The assumptions made about who, and what she is.

Where are they looking? 

Then she feels for a moment that her ruse went too well 

Her mask too inscrutable 

Shaking her head, Katrina sighs 

So long trying to be accepted, acceptable 

Doing what they said 

Tell the truth and be yourself 

And she watched them back away into corners 

Their faces pinched, closed even wary 

This different one not the same as them 

She peeled away the parts that didn’t match the pattern 

They all followed the same one 

Till she could bear no more and had to let the pieces return 

To where they belong 

And she stands proud like beast set free from a yoke 

This is me she says without fear 

Well maybe a little but not enough to stop her now 

Not any more 

She hears words of what they assumed she liked 

Imagined how she thought or felt 

She laughs loudly the melody new and unfettered 

Finally she is free from expectations 

Katrina will be unafraid from now only herself. 

Ailsa 

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016