strong threads
when my heart is cotton web dry and a thousand gallons thirsty
when the devil’s dealing in smash and everything feels forged
i take a telescope to my ears and see the paper universe in my head,
that’s where i’m working on a brilliant display,
made of duck tape dreams and fractured constellations
a parallel intersection of everything confused—
telescope to my ears and i lose ground, the bearings come undone
so even on the brightest day when the sun’s beaming strong
i forget which reality is real, which matter, matters
i spend too much daylight collecting card stock
for the makeshift planets that i’ve yet to construct
i’ve got the real world and then i’ve got the world in my head
so sometimes it feels like there are pirates invading every room of my mind,
and my paper solar system gets divided and every star burns black
when my ship’s been hit and i’m sinking to a plastic moon that’s only in my head
i pull myself above water and reach for the elements of gravity still fighting to catch me-
the threads that hang on and pull me through my deepest dives
threads of truth and love and everything right
those are things that call me back and itch the throat of my own make-believe world
they come carrying bags of hope on their backs,
they come even when i’m petrified to the center of my bones
even when i’m impatient like weeds creeping through the concrete
the threads of life, the ones outside my cardboard universe,
outside my fabricated actuality
they’re stronger than a million avalanches falling
stronger than all the civil wars,
and those, those are threads that keep me alive.
artwork: thesnailandthecyclops
