Cause and Effect

the hours dissolved. like so much sugar into cream. the yellow woke her. stinging and urgent. all her choices opaque. all her decisions septic.

she was years fidgeting with the length and the width. searching for a grander ratio. her umbrella collapsed and the rain gave her its verdict.

the miles don't remember where we've been. nor do the places. we wear our maps like a weighted skin. spending our lives trying to make it fit. the window briefly catches our breath.  a fleeting epiphany. a heavy chest full of grief and indifference.

we're thin pencil marks in the pictures our lives draw. desperate for colors that have no interest in us.

she counts the bruises as she tumbles out of her clothes. all those small wounds add up as flesh builds its bridges

when she bleeds, she doesn't look for bandages. the blood is merely ink for her words.

when she breaks that is what she is.

broken.