Shroud

i had to leave the house of fashion
 go forth naked from its doors
 cuz women should be allies
 not competitors
 and i had to leave the house of god
 cuz the cross repleased the wheel
 and the goddesses were out in the garden
 with the plants that nourish and heal
 i had to leave the house of privilege
 spend christmas homeless and feeling bad
 to learn that privilege is a headache
 that you don't know that you don't have
 and i had to leave the house of television
 to start noticing the clouds
 it's amazing the stuff you see
 when you finally shed that shroud
 i had to leave the house of conformity
 in order to make art
 i had to be more or less true
 to learn to tell the two apart
 and i had to leave the house of fear
 just about as soon as i could crawl
 ignore my face on the wanted posters
 stuck to the post office wall
 i had to leave the house of self-importance
 to doodle my first tattoo
 realize a tattoo is no more permanent
 that i am, and who
 ever said that life is suffering
 i think they had their finger on the pulse of joy
 ain't the power of transcendence
 the greatest one we can employ