Tess Hunt

Rhymes soothe sharp fragments

of a tattered past.

A voice in the darkness.

A question too raw yet
to digest.

The answer is love,
the stomach pains persist.

Vegan chili helps with this.

Or maybe it’s the person
behind that advice.

you said you didn’t
have the bandwidth.

don’t say that about my friend!

there is someone in your doorway
casting a shadow
and i cannot see you anymore.

stay away.
come back to me.
st-

it is difficult to hear you
over my pained echo.

i see why we left it at
twisty
old
that.

The man in me is crying
while the woman
drives the car.

She’s always been
the stronger one,
and how we got this far.

But then he rises up to say-
kindness is not weakness, hey.

And again we all trade places.

I used to wish that
I had been
named Lullaby

so I could go to bed
with every body,
every night.

I was so silly.

I didn’t even need that name at all!

There’s beauty in the breakdown –
maybe everybody says that.
Seems like everybody knows that.

i don’t know.

But what we leave out constantly –

or maybe no one knows it –
or maybe it’s so obvious, it shows –

Is the logic.

There’s logic in the breakdown, too –
it’s just not the first thing calling.

Logic is less primal.

It’s more patient,
in less pain –
and it’s humbled in the presence
of a strength it can’t explain.

Cuz there are just some instances
when things come up
that override the brain.

And that’s when you’re the furthest,

farthest,

fathomest,

away

from being what we think of as insane.