here is what we are learning—how to feel
from the other side,
that there is feeling on the other side

that we are the ones our parents condemned
all our lives
that we are the ones we have condemned
all of our lives

monstrous—we are beginning
to understand, we seem monstrous
but from in here we feel
terrified, lost, hurting, furious, righteously

vengeful, forced by our enemies
to defend ourselves forcefully, innocent,
blameless, way too busy to be bothered,
to take the time to see

what we are becoming
                                                2/3/2005
       *After reading Adrienne Rich, The School Among the Ruins,
         Poems 2000-2004