❝ - ❞

[litany]

Bravery cameos on a Wednesday,
your coat with the multicolored
embroidery, repeating stitches where you breathe

Red outsides soft sleepy white insides
especially where it touches the anxiety of your nape -
the brush of someone else's safety flicked on
Red coat, back of your neck yes, back
of your heart yes, where
threat rests just as often if not more so
Red for years without wear then new,
then Wednesday red, different red than what you wanted,
knowing there's nowhere for your coward to go.

Bravery stumbles fast back to the room you'd burn for just half
your worth, for anything, for nothing since, as it turns out,
even courage prefers to backhand you.