Content Warning: references to smoking/drugs

Find comfort in disquiet,

in mould in humid bathrooms,

the mayhem      of broken noses

and crushed aglets d r a g g i n g on concrete –

caked in chewed spearmint gum.

You are an observer

     of calloused hands on brass strings

Crimson plastic, nostrils pierced in backyards,

Running in on platform shoes (just give us a clue).

Eardrums    crackle      

and then

they burst.

Drink vanilla cough syrup.

It will burn like scraped knees     .

Longing does not leave

and you will not be free.

Rip off rose tinted band-aids along with some dignity.

You are soft

like petrichor, homegrown hydrangeas.

You will crave    more

                                                  more

                                                                              more.

Until the only thing left for you is an overfilled ashtray

and a tiled bathroom floor.