Tonight's Poet Corner: Soulsplosion

Soulsplosion
by Belinda Roddie

Oh, God, it's everywhere - neon
splatters on the walls - tattoos of
past hopes on a chair leg's splintered
flesh - rainbow skidmarks from fleeing
the scene too fast - too fast - too fast -

I am incapable of stopping the eruption
of volcanic emotions from my opened
chest - I am hopeless to stop it. Fucking.
Hopeless.

When will I stop breathing ash without
ever touching a cigarette? When will
the tears I cry stop scalding my skin
as they steam along the sides of my nose?
I am hot, I am cold, I can burn bridges and

freeze hearts. I am a bunsen burner out of
control. I am chemicals in a closed vial,
waiting to eat through the glass in a vibrant,
colorful geyser that leaves nothing but a mess
and a miasma of spite in the laboratory. Seratonin

and dopamine and love and promises with just
a hint of something strong in my system.
Take off that coat, doctor, it's not
white anymore. Lock the doors behind
you and leave me the fuck alone.