survivor

PTSD
doesn’t happen to me

that’s for soldiers
and survivors of abuse

the shell-shocked
the dissociative
the ones building false realities
that work
in order to survive

oh.

I guess I’ve been those, too.

turns out
being “free”
tries to free other
things
locked up tighter than I knew

doors behind doors
behind
doors
all with locks

and me, with a handful of keys
that don’t seem to match
any
of
them.

my dreams are now trying
some keys

the shouts during sleep
alarming my wife

and me

are all a part of the process…