1. Introduction: The Jar

My life was bad; I did a bad thing Now I’m in Hell and I can’t but sing Of loss and dreams—escapist fluff— Just stop me, if you’ve had enough.

I’ll bookend the sequence here for you, Just by this *campfire* I’ve trod through. I hope God’s *daughter* finds a way To summon meaning from what I say.

Inside this jar of glass I’m trapped: A metaphor extremely apt For what my life was, while I lived A last sardonic parting gift.

I am apart from all I was No clothes to hide me, and no fuzz To shave from off my face: just me. Come, gaze, and see all you can see.