Poetry by William E. Berry Jr.

Untitled

My body is betraying me. Or, I have betrayed my body.

I know where I went wrong. Yet, I revel in the wrongness.

I need help and like a pouting child, I refuse to seek it; determined to cure what I cannot. 

For decades, I have followed a never-ending regimen of self-pleasure; manipulating ideas
and experiences into hollow fantasies that burst the very essence of life from me. And now,

I have become weary, disillusioned, and hopelessly trampled. 

This cannot be what my life has become.

I worry that I am losing my mind catapulting fantasized desires into a stranglehold
of despair and contempt.

I wonder if I genuinely love myself. 

William E. Berry, Jr. hails from the Bronx but has been a resident of Auburn and a Dean of Institutional Initiatives at Cayuga County Community Colle for over a decade. In his career he has been employed in furthering empowerment, diversity, sustainability and culture at several major universities across New York State. He has a bachelor’s degree from Lehman College in New York City and a masters from Boston University. In 2010, Berry launched aaduna, Inc., a nonprofit organization identifying and promoting new and emerging writers and artists, especially people of color.  Berry, writes rhythmic poetry—recently presented, with music, at The William Seward Museum.