when the pain
gets to be
too much
the anxiety
whispers
the depression
pressures
until my inner organs
turn to diamond

i retreat
into my shell

feeling less
like a hermit crab
than a snail
as the world
speeds past
yet i cannot seem
to get my bearings

the spiral
of my mobile
command center
separates me
from the usual slugs
that hang about
the moldy vegetation
of another day
in self imposed
hell