Let them rip me

Writing is rough on me

I feel it caustic on my skin

A punch in the stomach

It’s heavy in my throat

Slapping me awake

Throwing one back

Burning down inside

Words pluck me like strings

Each line a beat of blood

Let them rip me

Let them cut pieces off

So I can pick them up

And remember where they go

Suffocating backwards

I have trouble nearing the cliff without jumping off

Standing at the fence without hopping it, and

Running headlong into the mist

I clench my fist sometimes when I

See a car and watch it plummet down the street

Paper bags were never for my lunches

Cause I didn’t know how to stop inhaling

Where does it begin and I end

I let it all inside me and not back out again

Suffocating backwards