even popping paracetamol / cannot abate these cries & cries / & cries & cries for relief
as i spill & spill & spill & spill bright red grief,
i curl myself into a perfect comma, vulnerable & small,
and cry & cry & cry & cry for relief.
to my dripping disbelief,
even popping paracetamol
cannot abate these cries & cries
& cries & cries for relief.
left battered and besieged,
i close my eyes, lying stiller than a limp ragdoll,
soaked in pools of muddled red grief.
at last my body yields itself to sleep,
seeking comfort in its soothing lull,
as it sighs & sighs & sighs & sighs in relief.
but comfort lasts only briefly,
and i wake up feeling mauled,
crying & crying & crying for relief.
i’ve spent ten & twenty & thirty weeks,
and a hundredthousandmillion hours sprawled,
crying & crying & crying for relief
while writhing in boundless pools of dull, red grief.
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Alin Quinn is a disabled, mixed, queer writer and poet in the US. His poems have been published in “Of Love and Dedication”, a Live Poets Society high school anthology, and “That Gray Zine”. When not reading or writing, he especially enjoys hanging out with his dog, playing the Sims 4, and collecting plushies. He is also currently studying social work in college.