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