strangers

sometimes i am torn
between which words to pick
my thoughts race and break every speed limit,
inside my rib cage; a fire that won’t go out no matter
how i try to dim the lights.


there is no on and off switch on my soul
i want to find the pause the rewind
so i can make sense of the click shutter flash;
of the thoughts that race me by,
faster than the light, quicker than a heartbeat.



but i am a bookshop after dark
filled with secrets and worlds to be discovered
yet on lock down, behind chains and switched off lights
there’s a password on my heart to keep the strangers out.

(everyone’s become a stranger now)