Essi

14

Manual

Teach me how to live.
How to live with windows rolled down,
musky rain ricocheting
off of sun-warped streets.
Peaches picked from gnarled branches,
runs that lead nowhere except
to aching muscles, aching bones,
the best kind of hurt.

Overcast days,
when the clouds can’t decide whether
to burst or
writhe away.

Chlorine that turns humans
into red-eyed zombies.
Eating away at our outer shell,
exposing miles of twisted intestines
and pumping vessels.
We are more than just the sum of our parts.

Walls, closing in on me.
The voice of a trillion tongues.
Begging, pleading, help me.
Help me, help me, help me.

Teach me how to live.

How to set the world on fire,
leaving a trail of ash
in my wake.
If Rome burns, I’ll burn with it.

Gentle souls,
tucked away in crannies, in alleyways.
I need you.
I need you to
teach me.
Teach me how to live.