Autumn Newman
MANIC EPISODE
All the wires inside me are cut.
White-hot light. Fingers crackle and spark.
Words ricochet in my mind. They spin shut.
Sleep falls away, bright eyes in the dark.
I pull at my skin till my body is open.
Ripple like gold through the rock of each hour.
Sunlight bends the world almost broken.
Smell every plant. Eat every flower.
My brain tips. Black ink bleeds through.
I open my mouth to the familiar disquiet.
All I can hear is a ticking inside me.
It is so loud. The world is so quiet.
People I love show me scars, want answers.
Apologies are twirling, anorexic dancers.