Exposed

My skin feels
everything
and magnificent.
I feel the warmth, the wind, the rain, the man
despite layers of all-natural fabric
I feel life on my skin
and we all know life can be overwhelming.

I wouldn't trade the nearly
unbearable
symphony of sensation
for the world, because
I get to know the world
in all its intensity
at all times.

The Storm Returns

A blast from my past blew down the reinforced door
uprooting all that had been
carefully
stacked
behind
it

like
Hurricane Katrina
stopping by New Orleans
just to catch up.

Those stacks had grown dusty,
all but forgotten;
I hadn't noticed they were beginning to rot

Such a devastating storm
must have some nerve
to drop by unannounced

but with an apology in hand...

Though unpleasant
uncomfortable
and unwelcome...
The catastrophe returned with closure

and now
we rebuild.

Keep fighting

When I can't echoes in your head
and you feel like sleeping for
eighteen years....
There's nothing I can tell you
you haven't already heard.

I can't

When make it stop is screaming
through your subconscious
like a missile....
All I can say is
don't.

make it stop

I know,
as much as anyone,
how hard,
how thoroughly exhausting
and how fucking impossible
it feels
to fight
we must

I can't

because what else is there?

I'm so tired

When I can't echoes through your head
and you feel like sleeping for eighteen years
and make it stop screams through your mind like a missile
keep fighting,

why

Honestly,

I can't

sometimes I don't know why,

but keep fighting.

I'm trying