(earth)

 the first time you fall apart
 I hope you
 stumble on a wise soul
 who can guide you to heal yourself
 and then
 when you shatter a different way
 help you mend a little more wisely
 that second time around.
((and the third time. And the hundredth.))

 and then I hope that one day
 when you are inevitably
 standing in the debris
 of what you thought was your foundation,
 you notice that without thinking twice,
 you embraced the chaos with open arms, 
 gently swept up the rubble,
 and softly began the task of rebuilding.

(fire)

 a war rages
 between my core
 and the stories
 that play on repeat
 in my mind

 I have tried to make peace.
 reroute my fire.
 pull it up through my mouth.
 the ashes only singe my tongue,
 wild strangers
 unwelcome
 in a tamed land.

 the parting of my lips
 leak with clouds of smoke
 and I choke on the extinguished words
 that my tongue never wanted
 to speak
 to begin with.

 

(Water)

 my soul and my body
 had been chasing each other
 honestly
 for decades.
 forever circling the same drain,
     intimidating
     obsessing
 keeping themselves
 on opposite sides, taking solace in their distance.

 unaware,
 I stumbled on a force
 far greater than myself
 (has anyone ever been able to name it?)
 and I watched
 as it flipped my drain
 right over itself,
 forcing a collision between
 the two strangers
 who had thought
 to never meet.

 Much to my shock | horror | surprise | healing,
 a stream of memories| thoughts| emotion
 pooled out at my feet
 waiting for their turn
 to be absorbed.

 I had no idea
 that after all those years
 my drain never flowed to the ocean.

(Metal)

 this is not
 your usual call to arms.
 this battle
 this field of wounds
 will not be waged
 against anything but your own shield.

 the cracks widening in your armor
 only emerge
 on the cusp of the kind of bloodshed
        that strips you
                to your core.

so let the only trace
of your knives
be found in the noise left behind
from when they tumbled to the floor 
as you rose to your feet.

left with the fading sound of metal
ringing in the air,
 it may finally be quiet enough
 to overhear the longings in your soul.

(air)

they have done this to you
         your whole life
 so you know just how to crush me
 so that my words shatter
 and slice my throat
 with broken glass
 before I can speak.

 blood trickles down my chin
 and I can do nothing
 but swallow the shards
 back down,
 numbing my words.