don't die (inside)

don’t die (inside)

 

don’t –

be fooled

into drinking that flat white

coffee does its best work

dark and strong as night

don’t be the twat

paying extra for copy write

 

don’t –

start computing

league tables

rinsed through nightly

with an award winning claret decision

as alexa tells you who to fuck

and in which position

 

don’t –

curl your evenings

around the ocado delivery

silence the void deep down

within tight balled fists

exchange the currency of feelings

for someone’s spotify playlists

 

don’t –

bother bagging up

the substitute tins of chickpeas

for the food banks

doorways don’t come with tin openers

tahini and lemon juice

and there’s no sincerity in expecting an email of thanks

 

don’t –

trim your children

into cis paper shapes

clumsily shaded in with pink and blue

acceptance withheld like a heist

as you force-feed fables

of an age old harry potter named christ

 

don’t –

die (inside)

cripple your authentic heart

with intravenous social media

providing scripts and a part

for back before the roles you play

there was a unique you

 

awoken with your first kiss

or buying punk vinyl in the record queue

nights you chased sunrise up

sweaty in tents or cars

with paired-up bliss

 

don’t –

die (inside)

for life will end anyway

shed your anxious skin

this millennial battle-armour

that hems us in more each day

 

connect –

with yourself

with each and all

with kith and kin

 

allow your recovery to begin