“Fear is the relinquishment of logic.” -Shirley Jackson

I’m in my head tonight;
tomorrow I will be too much
for even you. These fixations
seep out of me, creating a tsunami
of paranoia and delusions.

I gulp them down like the thirsty girl
trying to get your attention; I want to
wire my jaw shut, and hold my nose,
so I’m not swallowing these intrusive
thoughts again, transforming into an ouroboros.

I used to know how to swim; I’d tread
back to land before the tides could get me.
I’m trying to breathe on my own,
but wouldn’t mind you being a life preserver
when I can’t tell if I’m swimming to the depths or the surface.

© Marisa Silva-Dunbar

Marisa Silva-Dunbar’s work has been published in Rose Quartz Journal, Awkward Mermaid, Spider Mirror Journal, Mojave He[art] Review, Anti-Heroin Chic Magazine, Poetry WTF?!, Better than Starbucks Magazine, Redheaded Stepchild, Words Dance Magazine and Gargoyle Magazine. She graduated from the University of East Anglia with her MA in poetry, and has been shortlisted twice for the Eyewear Publishing Fortnight Poetry Prize. She has work in Mojave He[art] Review, Sixfold, Pussy Magic, Midnight-lane Boutique, and The Same. To contact her visit:

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