Breathe in
Tighter
Breathe out
Repeat
From A to B
Then back again
Violent
Deep
Irrational
Like that scaffold pole to my spine
Like that monkey wrench to my knees
Like that cold steel pressed to my head
Yes
I can break bottles
Punch walls and smash chairs
But it never stops
It never does
From riverside to corrupt border town
From Bangkok street to south London park
From Kowloon bar to Beijing cell
From public ward to crematorium
These shadows do not fade
They only sink down deeper
Into the cracks
Opened by the sustained and heavy blows
Widened by the grief, humiliation and shame
No
This infection does not heal
This memory will not cure
Like the noose and the taut rope that pulls
It just breathes in
Tighter
Ever tighter still