Timidity (Rachel Perry- Lafayette, LA)

I made a concoction once
of lemon juice & milk & salt.
Drank it down in attempt to lose my timidity.

The ingredients had no reasoning
no known innate powers.
Their mixture was unthought-out,
unread-up-on.
It was a silly plan of escape,
a silly hope,
a silly liquid potion to dissolve the thick shell around me.

I tried to speak louder the next day,
tried deliberating my movements a little less
tried to end the muteness I was known for.
It seemed that lemon juice & milk & salt
made no difference.

But strangely enough they did.
One day,
just six years later,
the potion kicked in.

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