Nervosa

*Published in North Greenville University's Mountain Laurel
                                                                                               

Hit the ground running
Run until exhaustion
Exhausting calorie counter
Countless, the hours
Hours that melt like Dali clocks
Clocks which spell a battle of loss

Each pound is a loss

Every night, until midnight I am running
Each stride, see clocks, sea clocks
One less, bright bones, sheer thin, my lover, exhaustion
So slim, the hours
The scale, stepper-stairs, thin air, a failure counter

My heart, a dying rhythmic counter
My life they might count a loss
But I am strong; I lie inside myself for hours
My mind racing, running
For the battle that lives there knows not exhaustion
circle-chasing perfection, around the clock

Pendulums swing, tick tock, sleep - enemies of clocks
to stand, I grasp the counter
One, two, five, six fingers bleed in exhaustion
My best  friend was a loss
She never stopped running
now, she is dead in the hours

Stop the hours
Stop the clocks
Stop the running
Stop the counter
Stop the loss
Stop the, me…exhaustion

Tomb-made exhaustion
I want to sleep for hours
My dreams are long lost
The clocks
on the counter
are still running

I…running, until exhaustion
Counterfeit the hours
Beg to bribe to…stop this scale-clock of loss