I didn’t feel the cold metal

When it bludgeoned my chin

My bones made no sound

When they clattered

To the brittle linoleum

My outline faded

Without any blood to feed it

My brain floated away

Detached from the body

Limp on the ground

Free from its pain

From its insistence

It could never be okay

If I didn’t wake up

Covered in my own blood

I wouldn’t believe I fell

Too depleted to be afraid

Of the holes in my memory

The throbbing in my head

Crammed into the corner

When I thought I was standing up

Light tumbling after me

Onto the floor

Back in the body

I longed to escape

Tossed on the whims

Of short-circuiting nerves

Rotting guts

Twisting and squeezing

Chin cracked open wide

Outline sharp

Oozing onto my damp cotton shirt

Tidally locked

To the unwilling flesh

Hoisting it from the floor

No choice

But to live

And try again