Some People Have Real Problems

by Michael Akuchie

hold me with a gaze. take the fullness of my body into your own. i have prepared the length of myself for this day. i am a mirror into the life of disintegration growing within. i speak the language of shards. pieces upon pieces of borrowed breath. sheets of glass glittering even in the dawn of separation. i find a part of me lying about, claimed by the sands. my heart is not groomed for withstanding the harsh weather of  life. a wind pulls out portions from me. the sound of pain rears its head from my skin, creeping out slowly. each drag is a journey through tears. a tour round bitter cold stories. this grief is unapologetic. a bomb hibernates inside me. upon the suddenness of body movement, i fracture my soul. it breaks under the weight of inactivity. i become the resulting desolation.

hold me with a gaze. personalized wreckage. a road runs through my body, swallowing dreams. sometimes i go missing in my head. when the sky wears a milk white moon, i bury my face under a pillow. i give myself hope & suppress all unkindness within. sleep gifts me sorrow draped in nightmares.every passing  breath is earned. i battle for air in my body.  claiming inner peace shell shocks my life. i choke on a storm, swallowing gusts of alarm. i am a temple of pain. an altar on which the promise of happiness is sacrificed. i am a blessing of ruins. i am strung together by sad songs, the tenderness of hurt shrinks the light in my eyes.