Buttons

You rest your fingertip

on the first button. Rest it on its
lips
tearing it open with a violence
with a force
not yet known to you
the second one wilts in fear
but your fingers scream
unrelenting
the countdown begins

by the time you reach the last
life has taken another meaning
a car without wheels
or wheels you
pulled out in ignorance
life has meant
a thousand infinitesimal moments
wrapped in a card
signed with a “yours truly”


by the time you reach the last
the body begins to shrink
itself into the size of a coffin
made just big enough
to crumple you

by the time you reach the last
it begins
this is how the body turns
this is how the body becomes
undone