Rip Me Open Poem by hypatia aether

Rip me open
Let them witness my filthy insides
Where guilt stains like black mold
After the flood of manipulation

Rip me open
Show the dirt in my cracks
The aftermath of splitting souls
Just to feel solid ground beneath my feet

I've become an architect of ruins
Designer of brief stability
Artist that's barely human
Built from others' pain

My body—this insufficient vessel—
Too fragile to contain the howling
Too small for thoughts that ricochet
Like bullets in a locked room

And always
The acid reflux of remorse
Burning through tissue and memory alike
As detachment creeps in
Cool and seductive as morphine