Ode To Anxiety


I feel your warmth with me always.
Warm like hot sauce down my throat, anxiety.
Warm like 9pm heartburn, anxiety.
Warm like soap in my eye, anxiety.

I am never alone.
I always have the music of your voice in my head.
You are constant like rain drops falling
one after another
during a storm.
Loud like a dentist’s drill.
Loud like a fire alarm.
Loud like my heartbeat in my ears.

You give me an adrenaline rush, sweet like candy,
but leave me with a sugar crash.
Honey in my veins, sticky and slow.
You keep me grounded, unmoving
I am paralyzed with you.

Guide me and hold me by the wrists,
drag me to and from the things that I love.
You hang around my neck heavy like fine jewelry
or a boa constrictor
tightening.
Where would I be without you?
Without that high from your electricity?

Perhaps I would just die.
 

semacdonald

VT

YWP Alumni

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