you draw a holding cell and pretend it's real
so you don't have to face the world.
your face is salt-slick, rose-pink
behind those bars you've fabricated
that nobody knows you're trapped inside
by your own damn mind in its desperate
short-circuit escape. this is a metaphor.
you will never leave your prison.

(you think: i am alone.
you think: i am scared.
you think: i am dying.)