Living in a Circle

How is a circle different from a box?
They say
don’t box yourself in,
think outside the box.
You don’t have to stay inside the box,
and at the same time, less directly,
they tell you
to conform,
to fit,
to stay inside the circle.
You can leave the box, they say,
but not the circle.
You can be different, they say,
but not too different.

We leave the box,
but stay in the circle.
We don’t even know the circle exists
because the box has edges we can feel,
sharp corners that make us long for what lies beyond,
straight edges and ninety degree angles that scream,
“You are trapped!”
But when you live in a circle,
there are no edges or corners,
nothing to make you feel trapped,
unless you see something waiting for you outside the circle.
And when you try to get to it,
you run into a wall and realize that yes,
yes,
you are trapped.
You’re trapped in the way that matters most.
And after that, everywhere you look,
there are lines.
lines you’re told you can’t cross,
lines you think you can’t cross,
until you do.
When you live in a circle,
you go around and around,
searching for the exit, the escape,
but never finding one.

A circle is endless
but two-dimensional.
And once you realize that,
you become 3D.
It’s how you’re meant to be.
It’s how you always would have been,
if they didn’t compress you
into flat nothingness.
The circle is nothing. It can’t hold you.
So step out of the circle like it’s
just one more line to cross.
Because it is.