Break up
The stories men live
Costumes that got mistaken for skin. Pick the one that stings. Or bring your own.
I am the one who holds it
The one who was never held
Who taught you that putting it down means someone dies?
If I stop performing, I disappear
The one who was only loved for the show
What is left of you in a room where no one is watching?
Need is weakness
The animal that still wants to be met
Where in the body does the wanting live when you stop calling it weak?
I am fine
The years that were not fine
What would break if you stopped saying it?
My worth is what I provide
The man with empty hands
If the providing stopped tonight, what would you still call you?
A real man doesn't break
The break that was never allowed
What got armored so early that you mistook it for a spine?
My father is still in the room
The boy still waiting for him to turn
What are you still trying to get from a man who is not here?
If I tell the truth, I lose them
The one already lost by the lie
Who are you keeping, and who are you disappearing to keep them?
Wanting would ruin me
The hunger you dressed as discipline
Name one thing you want that has nothing to do with being good.
Anger is the only honest thing left
The grief that learned to shout
If the anger sat down, what would sit down with it?
If I feel it I will drown
The feeling waiting in the shallows
What is the feeling, in one word, that you will not enter?
I don't need anyone
The one who needed someone and learned not to
Who taught you that needing was the danger?
I'll rest when I've earned it
The life that is already tired
What are you still trying to buy with exhaustion?
I already know this
The one still refusing to be changed by it
Where has knowing cost you nothing?
The future will save me from this
The present you will not enter
What can only happen while you are still alive?
This is just how life is
The quiet that knows otherwise
Whose life did you inherit so completely you forgot it was optional?