Good. How are you?

I.
I am running partly on paint,
Shushing the malignant buzz that sustains itself in the back of my brain.
I am coating bumps and cracks with goopy, saccharine enamel.
I am sedating madness with dripping slimy gunk that reeks of chemicals.
I am painting a bogus picture of clouds and swing sets and dirt kicked up from screaming kids,
Then covering up again with a fresh coat of muck.

II.
I am running mostly on gears,
These days my flywheels spin madly, left to their own devices,
Equipment clinking moving ratchets up a spring, sprockets and cogs,
Click and whir, propelling through the motions.
My body in formulaic locomotion,
My brain in fucking la-la land.


III.
I am running EXCLUSIVELY on DEALS.
15% off sitewide TODAY ONLY.
Color palettes cute and useless, pretty tchcokes.
Fluffy cashmere promises an easy today, an easier tomorrow.
I am SHOPPING MY SPRING PICKS HERE,
Guided by the sacred wisdom of TODAY's HOTTEST STYLE INFLUENCERS.

IV.
I am running purely on endorphins,
Tweezer plucking sinew and arteries,
The nerves dead and drunk and laughing.
I pull them up and wind them on a spool of cork,
Soaking blood and draining life with every nonchalant turn of the wheel

V.
I smash a ceramic teacup with an aluminum bat, smile, and swallow the shards.

VI.
Good. How are you?