Branches Book

BRANCHES

The voices in my head Are usually loud And SCREAMING But now There is nothing

No good SCREAMS The edges of my lips No longer want reach toward the sun No dark SCREAMS The flames in my eyes have distinguished Nothing My whole life I wanted a way to turn off the voices But you took the controls and put it on mute

Without my permission And now that you have I miss the voices. Open myself up Take a good hard look Laugh all you want

At my bones and blood Laugh at my small heart Which has never seen the light of day before Because I always keep it locked up so tight inside me Kept in a shut prison cell Heavily sedated, no longer a danger to society.

Laugh at my deteriorating brain No more special than rotting fruit Which keeps on hurting me and you

The love between you and me has started an infection In the cuts on our arms we were once so proud of Laugh at it now While you can Because pretty soon, Your laughter won’t hurt nearly as much as I think it does right now

Because you are just a person And nothing you do or say Can change who I am Because I am me Regardless of whether you are there or not

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