listen:

i just need you
to listen.

maybe not you—
probably not you—
but someone.

my heart is a black hole,
and i’m fighting gravity.

i blocked myself out,
i blocked myself off,
for twenty years,
and today
i feel

everything.

the void in my chest
wants to consume
my sternum and ribs
and lungs whole,
but i refuse to let it
consume me.

i’m struggling to hang on
to the stray rays of light
that convince me
i can be filled.

you are not the way,
but there surely is a way
to fulfill my needs
without crushing you
along the way.