emotionally
he was a collapsed mine
he was a finch
in a cage
as the vapors swept
from vents
in the coaldust menagerie
of soft feelings
spreading across
the tears
in his paper maché
psychosis

he was
the last survivor
tearing scraps
off the lucky bastards
that were more
eminent
in their demise

never realizing
that the bodies
that littered the rubble
at his feet
half-chewed carcasses
representing
the parts of himself
he could never
stomach
even as he
ravenously
tore them to shreds