Breadcrumb #536

MATTHEW FIGUEROA

We ask so much of the dead
afraid to ask anything of the living
I think it has to do with listening
people are always too busy
worrying about the past or things
that have yet to pass while the dead
are completely present they won’t
cut you off mid-sentence the dead
don’t give you pressure but space
to make your own decisions the dead
won’t poison you with their opinions
maybe we’d all be better off
dead at least then I’d have
something in common with other
people all hope for human connection
has bled out of me through all the words
that slashed through my self-esteem I, too,
must be a dead thing there’s no way
you can call the life I lead “living” so
I feel most at peace among tombstones
telling all the other corpses my deepest
wishes because being able to speak
freely and be heard
is fulfillment

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