chattering teeth inside
the heart's rickety birdcage,
I give you
anxiety

is telling your only darkest
secret
to a room full of strangers
in a dream, and when
upon waking
you look at her
still sleeping
and know she will
never hear
the words

is leading with your face
finding out
everyone else is leading
with their backsides

the laws you invent
and you're the police,
too, the judge, too
and you

i'll hurt you if you keep going
he'll hurt you if you stop

after a certain point it doesn't matter
if you go to sleep

saying, at the end of a book
you must never read
these poems again

the heart's birdcage
is now broken open
and the chattering teeth
have escaped

you must never read
this poem again