Soft Animal: CPF to AMFT

Camila Pacheco-Fores
5/18/2012 and 5/29/2012

i watch my feet as they step across the pavement
over cement circles that run circles in my mind
i can’t quite figure out why
i feel like shit
karma’s just a bitch i guess

Trees in Snow © Ana M. Fores Tamayo

another selfish saturday
and all i can think about are my own issues
the stinging at the back of my throat
and the pounding of my head

but what about that person
whose esophagus sears every day
every time they have to keep quiet

my pipes ache from talking too much
but theirs won’t stop burning from the silence
the beating of my brain comes from
the sickness in my body
but theirs is from the sickness of society
slinging words of hate
not even thinking before they discriminate



so that one poor soul is
forced to sew their mouth shut
so as not to draw unwanted attention
not free to own the body, the mind, the emotion
they were given
for fear of causing some commotion

sometimes the quiet even permeates the soul
true self hidden from their own eyes
because of lies they’ve been told by the outside
but why should outside affect inside?

i met a boy the other day
sixteen and scared he looked straight into my eyes while his said
“i think i’m gay”

he said “there’s this monster inside me
that i struggle with everyday
that makes me look at him that way

my soul wants to melt into his skin
and breathe in his life as my own
my body wants to fit into his
like we are the only two pieces
of our own puzzle
but i feel like i could never …”

well i’m here to say
that’s no monster in your soul
but a beautiful beast
waiting to be released

Camilagenderfluidity © by Camila Pacheco-Fores

let the soft animal of your body love what it loves

let the wolf in your chest howl at the moon
chase the wind that tickles your fur
and makes your heart leap

let the soft animal of your body love what it loves

let the fangs of your teeth
sink into the earth
draw out every bit of love from life itself
and never apologize

let the soft animal of your body love what it loves

let your coyote cry soar to the sky
and the stinging in your esophagus cease

because this world isn’t anything
if not wild
and we are nothing if left imprisoned by silence