her

and how do you sit there with the words echoing across

the landscape in your head

their force ricocheting, knocking a tree flat over

if nobody is around to hear it,

does the tree falling in the forest make a sound?

if i dont tell anyone what they said, will it still be real?

will it still be real?

the walls are closing in

as the words beat faster

and faster

a cacophony of drums

cascading between ever-tightening binds

i cant breathe

i never breathe

i never learned how

it sits like a collar on my neck now

heavy and dangling

unless i look up and it moves

i cant see the sky anymore

for fear of the metal’s obscene weight crushing my

windpipe

i cant breathe but

maybe i will one day