Insomnia
Scratching
Clawing frantically
Wildly raking with my fingers,
Trying to hold on
To something you can't see
Or taste or touch
But feel
Deep within you
When you finally find home
But I can't stretch out any farther
My ribs are snapping
Cracking
Like thunder that shatters
Splinters across the sky.
My chest is a vacuum
Sucking in the ruin of my rib cage, a cyclone of
Splintered bone
Piercing
Gulping for air
My nerve endings are fire
Ants crawling through my fingertips, my tendons
Tensing
Tightly coiling up my muscles, curling my arms
Inward, knees to chest
Flexing
Readjusting
If I could only stretch further,
Ripping
The more I move, the more the ants spill out their caves.
Biting through my veins.
Writhing.
I can't stop.
With the world collapsing in you,
How can you keep still?