Villanelle of
the Onion
The onion's just the way I've always been:
Cracked crumpled
armadillo-flesh outside
the countless husks of bottle-glass green skin,
outside a hidden heart I can't begin
to sculpt a better
metaphor to hide;
The onion's just. The way I've always been,
my keeping reeking layers deep within
revealed the rest. Who wouldn't weep with
pride?
The countless husks of bottle-glass green skin
are bent with pent-up pungent tears again,
from days of
smiling dryly while I lied.
The onion's just that way. I've always been
ashamed of that, inside--and always in-
sincere about it to myself. I tried
to count the husks of bottle-glass green skin,
and
failed. I never let my
friends get in,
for
fear they'd flee and finally decide:
"The onion's in the way." I've always been
these countless husks of bottle-glass
green skin.
--Jurph