Static in my chest, teeth on the truth, I learned how to smile with a bruise in my mouth. Applause in the room, I’m folding in half, I disappear clean while you call it a laugh. I orbit your silence like it’s gravity, Pulling my ribs toward a voice that won’t carry me. I translate my pulse into something polite, Swallow the scream so the room stays light. I bleed in adjectives, you hear a shrug, I hand you a storm, you answer with dust. I learned how to kneel without touching the floor, How to beg with my eyes while my mouth says “sure.” I’m breaking in lowercase, quietly loud, Cracking my spine to keep us proud. I’m screaming in cursive, you read it as air, I’m fading in front of you, you call it “there.” My nerves are a courtroom, the verdict’s a tie, Every truth I confess comes back stamped “deny.” I carry your comfort like knives in my coat, Smile stitched tight so the seams never show. I rehearse my collapse in a mirror at night, Practice breathing like nothing’s not right. I hand you my pulse, you ask for a beat, I give you my heart, you ask for receipts. I’m breaking in lowercase, quietly loud, Choking on mercy I wasn’t allowed. I’m screaming in cursive, you call it a phase, I’m dying in chapters you skip through the page. Say less. I learned. I make myself smaller so love doesn’t bruise. I turn my hunger into manners and rules. I rename the ache so it sounds like a choice, I bury the tremor and borrow a voice. If pain had a language, it would sound like me, Polite as a lie, sharp as belief. Your hands know the surface, never the depth, You hold me like glass and wonder why I’m a mess. I sink with a halo, you praise how I float, I rot in the room while you toast to the hope. I learned how to vanish without leaving a mark, How to be daylight while living in dark. I’m loyal to ruins, I kneel to the fall, I crown you with silence and call it my fault. I’m breaking in lowercase, quietly loud, Carving my name where it won’t be found. I’m screaming in cursive, you call it “okay,” I’m dying in inches you measure as days. This is the sound of a throat learning fire, A love like a blade that I still won’t retire. Just a pulse on repeat and an unspoken name.
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