Padded cell

March 10, 2023

There (she) is
beneath the soft ceiling

Nails too short to tear down
scraps of yellow wallpaper

Mask too thin to fend off
smoke from the attic aflame

Limbs too weak to hold up
an emaciated body upside down

Lips too stiff to scream in
the voice of the mother

There (she) is
amid the solid silence

too sane to dissolve into
the letters
left with no escape but
to squeeze
in between
the lines