Gum on The Bottom of Your Shoe

by Olivia Powers

i keep remembering i am deeply flawed

No matter how hard I try to keep things together

I feel like i need somebody to look after me.

i have gotten so comfortable with my own discomfort,

reminding myself over and over

of people i can no longer look in the eye

of places i can no longer go at night

Of the way your name rolls off the tongue,

every syllable leaving me somehow more incomplete

i feel like i need somebody to look after me

because i swear everybody i meet

gets all the best pieces of me -

i keep remembering i am deeply flawed

i want to be everybody's keeper,

but who will watch over me

as i wake up from nightmares tangled in sheets

i keep remembering i am deeply flawed

i keep remembering i am deeply flawed

how do i admit to the things i've done

the harm i've caused

how do i explain the person in the mirror

to my soul? The man inside?

i keep remembering i am deeply flawed.