feels as if
my lungs
have been
stapled
to my spine
a band of steel
pressed tight
around my
struggling
heart

the gravity
inside of
my skull
on par with
mercury

anxiety
crushes
my hollow
bones
to dust

on days
like
today
the heaviness
of existing
weighs
down
like
six feet
of soil
on a coffin lid

it isn’t real
he yells
his echoes
returning
the words
with a
biting
sarcasm
cutting deep
to the quick