there's cotton in my head
someone's been sticking it in my ears
up my nose
behind my eyes
someone's been shoving cotton down my throat
balls, swabs, t-shirts--all of it
there's something fuzzy and dense
blinding white and dull
something keeping me numbly separated
from my words
from my self
from my life
someone's been stuffing my mind with filler
is that where the headaches are coming from?
I'd thought it was the sleep-lacking
the stress-smacking
the emotion-hacking
but I guess the cranium cotton would do it too
I just want to think again on an empty stomach
without all of this fluff
all this shredded cloud
shrouding any meaningful thought that passes through
not even you clear the skies anymore.
I have the sneaking suspicion that if I turned around quick enough
I'd catch you, hands full of cotton balls
ready to numb me up
and dumb me down
so I don't turn and just pop another ibuprofen
relishing in the blissful ache
of an increasingly crowded mind
___
