POETRY

A Character Is Glitching

And the restart button is unresponsive

Photo by Eyüpcan Timur from Pexels

It comes in threes
thought 1, 2
and oblivion.

I joke about procrastination
as if I didn’t contaminate indecision
tried to unclasp buckles
and wound up tethered by heat.

Two twin shadows
who gossip about daylight.

Guilt settles
like thick winter moisturizer
repositioning last night.

One moment
I was seconds from exploding
In the second,
I was existing
and the final makes it explicit.

A half-hearted attempt
of not trying hard enough
or just enough
to qualify as enough.

Let it melt
I blow into the ash
because every heartbeat
feels like I’m slipping away.

Circumventing catastrophes
that never emerge
because I switched lanes
during a two-hour liquid lunch.