there i am
a sputtering, flashing spark
fighting the pressing days
screaming quiet in the dark
that i might present a smile
to the beautiful wide world

so i take my bits and pieces
and crush them in my fists
until they change to harder words
that i might lock my broken away
into this small box of poems
i carved with my heart and bones

and sometimes i extinguish myself
to sit quiet in my numbing black
cherishing the feeling of nothing
while the waves crash in the distance
like an ocean a world away
that can never erode me further