Step one:
Kneel.
Not like one would in prayer or like a knight,
but because it's how you've learned to keep yourself small.
Maybe if you fold yourself just right,
they'll stop questioning why you're not enough.

Step two:
Take the laces,
expectations, both yours and theirs.
Cross them over like your dreams running head-first into a wall.
Pull tight. Tighter,
until you feel the constriction in your throat.

Step three:
Make a loop.
Make another.
Remember, this is how it's supposed to go.
Twist. Thread. Pull.
Do it again and again because one knot is never enough
to hold yourself together the way they want you to be.

Step four:
Let go.
Not because it feels done, but because it has to be.