Changing spine

I was born with a spine of stone

Formed straight into the womb

It can't bend

It can break

It's broken before

Multiple times

I rebuilt it

Piece by piece

Someone put me in a cage

Called the masses to see me

Look at that girl

With the straight-up spine

In the cage I couldn't stand

Onlookers were disappointed

They shouted ‘give us our money back’

And threw ink balloons at my face

I used the ink to write on the floor

Let me out

Don’t scream at me

I hate oranges

They destroyed my cage

And dragged me out

And replaced me with a copper baby

In a glass case

I crawled away to a creek

My spine was broken again

I let out a long, loud wail

That shook the forest

And scared the birds into flight

I wailed and wailed until my lungs were hurting

And my head had no more tears or anger

Then the creek took me

And carried me downstream

I landed on the sand

And pulled myself out

Of the water

My skin was blue

My spine was gone

The fish in the creek had replaced it

With reeds and weeds

And my whole body started blooming