Forget me Knot
By Philip Degaltini
6/13/2021
The knot in my stomach twists and turns;
an unenviable side effect of my guilt.
My insides a plait of heart strings and offal,
tangled up in my love for you.
Deep slow inhalations of breath
doing little to calm my nerves,
rather, holding back the dams of my eyes.
And I sigh, a small gust of uncertainty.
My arms folded across my self
forcing my broken pieces back into place;
a fortress for my heart;
a last ditch effort at tranquility.
A fog of half remembered arguments
and well meant reassurances clouds my brain;
a storm of memory raining consternation
and melancholy beads inside my head.
The ground, rife with trepidation
is unsteady, rocking under my weight;
offsetting my perception of balance and
sends ripples of self doubt through my feet.
The air, thick with regrets, mattes my skin;
a stew of dismay I’m forced to wade in.
Flaws and miscalculations pull me deeper,
braised in my own past mistakes.
The knot in my stomach twits and turns,
an amalgam of that which I cannot take back;
the manifestation of my anxieties;
the please don’t forget me knot.
