I waited too long.
Exclamation points
cut through me
hurting like a dull knife.
A voice arrived,
as if he knew my real name,
rearranging the drawers
inside my head.
He woke me at midnight
and whispered the past tense
in the kitchen of my messy life.
A guest called a mango a tomato.
He laughed into my left ear.
I gave up.
I couldn’t rise above the verb.
When he was about to leave,
I felt a deep fear.
He shook the dust off “I can’t.”
I followed him
to see who I was in a hard shell,
and who I’ll be outside it.
He told me only to write
scattered thoughts
until I say
enough to live
carrying myself.
Jan 14
Jan 14, 2026 at 9:48 PM UTC
I waited too long.
Exclamation points
cut through me
hurting like a dull knife.
A voice arrived,
as if he knew my real name,
rearranging the drawers
inside my head.
He woke me at midnight
and whispered the past tense
in the kitchen of my messy life.
A guest called a mango a tomato.
He laughed into my left ear.
I gave up.
I couldn’t rise above the verb.
When he was about to leave,
I felt a deep fear.
He shook the dust off “I can’t.”
I followed him
to see who I was in a hard shell,
and who I’ll be outside it.
He told me only to write
scattered thoughts
until I say
enough to live
carrying myself.
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