Reminder

Everyone has that something that eats at us
Our insides turn to mulch
And the doubt bugs come to plump up

There's a pulling down in my middle
As I read the note
Reminder of a part of life unfinished

A time of clarity, followed by a time of levity
I can't quite seem to get it right
My head starts to throb

We like to remind ourselves of all we are
The good times, the gold stars
This note only brings me back

To that place where I put on a mask
The image of an accomplishment
Unsure that I can bear for them to see me

As I am, I have failed in their eyes
I can see that they see me
Someone less than what I really am

This note will be burned
But into my brain
And all my clarity of the recent past
For naught

The Comedown

There is a running in my middle
A rampant current, flowing madly
My expected tearful release is not present
Rather a quickening pulse
And inability to sit still

I fidget, ever-growing jitters
Consuming the edges of me
Hands and feet dancing their own rhythm
Blinking eyes see nothing but
What I can't have right now

This is my comedown
A detox from you and your liquid voice
I made my rules and intend to keep them
But it's so hard to stay in line
If your heart knows not what to do

Anything I do now, in this moment
Of self-imposed insanity
Would never assuage this itch I have
Not even if I tried to explain myself
To you and your unseeing eyes

Misstep

We are two tin cans
Strung along a tenuous line
Reverberations creating tension
Until we pull tight
And relieve the miscommunication

Inside my head
This tinny sound is aching
Awaiting the renewed sound
Of your smooth voice
The thing that melts me

Awash with waves of uncertainty
I reel from the lack
Of your tight embrace
Willing a new taught string
To rise up in the old one's place

And once again,
We can speak out loud
And honestly