They say you came out of your
shell.
Shell? I say. Came out? I say.
You should have shattered it.
You should have kicked until it broke.
You should have destroyed it and said
Shell? There is no shell that holds me!
I am free.

I came from a box.
A hard box.
A metal box.
A metal box full of screws and rivets
Pierced through with glass and nails.

I forced my way out gashed and bleeding.
I pushed and shoved and bled until
I was free.

Don't say you came out of your shell.
Tell me how you fought to escape
A prison.
Tell me that you came out bloody
and Battered.
Tell me that you are like me
and someone bandaged your cuts
and threw your prison box away.