saltwater

you had me cornered, too shocked to 
react to the words you were saying, 
too scared to make them real

the same old story told so many times
it doesn’t even hurt much anymore, 
it’s just jarring, it’s just one more piece
in the fresh hell of my life that I don’t
need to deal with right now

when you’re told you’re not breaking
but broken, when you’re asked with
genuine concern “Are you okay?”
this is the time to say it:

of course i’m not fucking okay,
no one is okay,
nothing is okay

I don’t want to hear it from 
the haters and the know-it-alls
who want to say that I deserve this,
or that I deserve nothing, or that 
both are true. 

I don’t even want to 
hear it anymore from you. 

Go find yourself, lost boy, 
while I wade into the saltwater
you’re too scared to touch,
claiming “these things will cure me”

sweat, tears, and the sea.

Today’s poetry prompt words are: cornered, know-it-all, and saltwater.

_{Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash}