Stained

A contest entry poem regarding anxiety, depression, and self-harm.

Black bits chip away
as eager fingers pick
pick layer after layer
of polish, nail, skin, and sinew
apart

flakes fall down
dancing through the air
melding into the carpet fibers below

spots and specks of red emerge
seeping out from splits in skin
and you realize

you stain everything you touch.
Damaged irreparably
there’s no turning back.


14 lines