Inhale

Inhaling feels like breaking / I listen 

to the voices that aren’t mine / rattle in my head

Inhaling shatters every part of me / glass skeleton 

Crackling beneath my fucking skin / invisible bruises 

Self-inflicted and world-inflicted and / love hurts 

They don’t tell you healthy love sometimes / hurts 

That family trees are mountains and valleys / and islands

For some of us / everything pours out of me 

But I inhale it again and again / like cigarette smoke I didn’t choose 

To devour / pain can be an addiction 

Pain is simple and involves / steady conviction 

To hold onto needlessly / I need to feel something 

And if breathing hurts / how do I know if it’s real 

Or if it’s just a part of something called / anxiety.