arteries: a poem

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

sometimes I feel as though
my mind is made up of arteries—
pulsating tubes of millions
of thoughts

swirling down pathways,
racing from my heart
to my head, from my toes
to my fingertips, pulsating.

sometimes, they clog up,
layered thick with repetitive thoughts
and yellowed, stale wonderings,
fears that have turned to fat
and cling to the tube walls
for dear life; if they let go,
where would they have to go?

I have found that the best medicine
for clogged thoughts is a walk—

outside, in the breeze, with my hands
in my pockets and my face
turned up at the sky, letting
the leaves of a bush brush against
my skin at I stroll and lose myself
in sound and thoughts that rush forth
as the clogged arteries

release, and flood out once more.