Alimonies to Anxiety

Write about love and drag it through
The street to make sure it bleeds.

Kill it if it isn’t still already.
Kill it like a single pin
in the foot of your dreams

Make it ache just to make sure
That you have squeezed everything
Out that you could

Your capabilities rely
On the destinies of small backstrokes
On your tongue

Thrash and throw and threaten
The things that promise you
Happy

Can you be anything if
The grass grows over you
Like the pleasant feeling
Of a blanket

Drag it through the dirt
Over the stones
Rocks that pelt the pelvis
Knocking about the
Possible birth

Kiss it goodnight if you’re not sure
Repeat if the lips are warm

—By Emily Wood