poem read for Overman at The Horseshoe 2-26-11

Overman

She took too much heroin
Don't think that's a bad thing, she said.
I hear voices singing me lullabies.
I feel the history of the world,
evolution of ideas and memes and genes,
coursing through my veins at lightning speed.
I am kings and queens and princesses
and madmen and beggars and scientists.
I am free. I know the world is grander
than those that play by the rules say.
I don't need to be anything I can't be.
I don't need to kill all the flowers
blooming and taking flight inside of me.
Things in the past I can forget, leave behind
as they fade away and disintegrate,
shot through with fireworks and confetti
and silly string and collapsing mitochondria
and smashed tv sets, a trillion pixels shooting
through space, making their escape, living free.
I've found a road to take free of my mistakes


Elizabeth Harper


The first and last lines in italics are quotes from Overman songs, "Princess" and "Sweet Escape," respectively.