Memories reach up and out of
the dark places
long fingers that
grasp and grab and wrap around
the tendrils of my thoughts
tangling some together
binding others apart
tinting truth the shade of shadows
nagging me, dragging me
down, down, down
until I’m drowning
in mud that sucks at my skin
and I shiver
cold to the bone.

Like the night we played
tether ball in the rain
until we were mud-caked
from hair to toenails.

But that was fun, wasn’t it?
We ate pizza at 10:30 and I said
it was the best night of my life.
I was six, so that was probably true.
Besides, the mud washed away
and I had a towel
and someone to cook me dinner.

But the downing, drowning,
sucking, mucking mud
pulls with all the weight
of leaded memories. Continue reading “Unbreak Me” →