s t r e t c h

i stretch my mouth wide

beg for words

but all that comes out

is one syllable,

drawn out in an O of pain

i screeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaam

stretching out the words

because i don't know what they

meeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaan.

i scream and scream but it means nothing

if a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound?

if i scream in my head, is it even real?

i don't know what's real.

i scream and scream and scream

but do i make a sound?

am i real?

or is my voice a line of code

on a faraway screen,

a brain in a jar,

a sentence in a book that has never been written

and never will be.

am i real?

i don't know.

and so i scream.