Some days it just piles up
Like icing sugar-coated sidewalks

Solid footsteps slipping on candied glass

Chewed up gum on the bottom of my soles

Nothing can grip the gravel

Misty mouthwash fog clouds the air

Covering up my glasses

Rolling around in bleached blankets

Stamp my body in the snow

Make me feel 2 foot four

Too short to reach the kitchen sink

Melting crystals on my tongue

And building snow statues

Until all the white turns to water

I want to tell you what my mind thinks

How my head twists and turns

Getting gnawed on like a crazy straw

Blowing air through a tube

Making bubbles inside my head

You manage to pop them

Like bubble gum

Except they stick to the corners of my skull

Filling up the lumps in my throat

I want to tell you why

Why do I whine like a gust of wind

Spreading a lit candle to a forest

Why my bones are dried-up twigs

Tucked into the foot of my bed

Why my eyelids are like crusty rose petals

Lids break each time they open

And my lips…

Like earthworms

Trying to squirm away from it all

Tidal waves of knitted quilts and comforter sets

Can’t wash the sleep from my eyes

Lungs steeped in chamomile tea

Bare body piled under pastel-coloured pillows

In some attempt to suffocate

The cockroaches in my head

My limbs squirm like anxious snakes

As if they think they don’t belong to me

Teeth clenched like a vice grip

Shoulders held down with duct tape

Coat my body with rubber cement

Weld my creaking joints with steel

Wrap me up in bubble wrap

And stamp each eyelid shut