Relieving The Symptoms

The cycles of addiction and abuse

You're handling this quite well
You're dealing with this one pinch at a time
Feel the grains swell
See them all fall and die

The feeling is now black
The only sensation is in your knuckles
Watch them bend and crack
Try to catch them but cry and stumble

Forming words from your cries
The snake, it crawls out of its nest
The mirror shows the pain in your eyes
Down through tissue and dies in your chest

Black and white
Red and yellow
Are you alright?
You're so damn low

Reach inside, feel around
Can't you see, you're contagious
Your shadow is a cloud
Its face is that of unconsciousness

Pull the tape off the broken hand
Place the knuckles in the sand
Release all of the broken glass
Even though you've come too far to last

Nobody could ever tell...
You're handling this quite well

Reviews

[Jesse Lancaster]

I loved the beginning, but the poem seemed to slow near the end. It was a little hard to follow, but upon finishing it I began to make more sense of it as a whole. For example, in the first stanza "Feel the grains swell" comes off as strange because the reader isn't aware that the persona is referring to sand. In short, a little fine tuning wouldn't hurt. One thing I particularly liked is that you began and ended the poem with "You're handling this quite well", which definitely increased the impact of the message. ANYWAY, it's a great piece!