You may not know it:
But your words
They eat away at me

Each harsh remark
taking bite size chunks
out of my capacity to last the day.

Unknowingly sharpened to weapons
Wielded against my rational evaluation
cutting away the ability
To complete the tasks of the day.

Your pressured speech
It suffocates my ability to communicate
My garbled words gurgle and ooze
like life blood from a hollow wound.

Hours of anxiety are whittled away
with the chisel of your exasperation
A moment for you stretches on to my year
You’ve moved on and I’m frozen here.

Your words are weighted
And my sodden corpse
cannot process the flow of your disdain.

I mumble apologies
and miscommunication
as you add another layer
Like a wheel at a fair
we loop;

Until it skips
like a record
and you hop off the track.

I look over and you’re gone
As I sit on the rubble of the rest of my day
Wondering if you kissed me goodbye.

Carrying the strength of your volume
Ringing through my mind
Pleading with eggshells
to splinter in silence
for fear of continuing the cycle’s chime.

You may not know this:
But your words
Impress upon me
An echo of the mind

Much like drowning
I choke as I consume
Inflicting wounds
You never knew were there.