This poem by Thomas Jackson puts to words his dreams conflicting with reality and the anxiety caused by that conflict making the situation more difficult to fix. Thomas uses writing as a form of self-discovery and as a way to describe the pressing emotions that are hard to name. His debut published collection of poems is now available!
-why do all my favorite things break-
when i was young, i was driven to be a rockstar, believing i was indestructible, i smashed my favorite guitar, hoping it would hold together, against the ground,
but it didn’t.
splinters flew.
i didn’t know then, that the death of my guitar, and the tears that followed, would foreshadow, years to come.
pieces of wood, turned to matches, which my hands grab, when they aren’t holding a pen.
maybe i bite my nails, in an effort to declaw myself, subconsciously sick of clutching my favorite things,
for long enough, to know their beauty,
for short enough, that when i look back down at my hand, there’s a pile in my palm.
-thomas jackson