Buttons

You rest your fingertip

on the first button. Rest it on its

lips

tearing it open with a violence

with a force

not yet known to you

the second one wilts in fear

but your fingers scream

unrelenting

the countdown begins

by the time you reach the last

life has taken another meaning

a car without wheels

or wheels you

pulled out in ignorance

life has meant

a thousand infinitesimal moments

wrapped in a card

signed with a “yours truly”

by the time you reach the last

the body begins to shrink

itself into the size of a coffin

made just big enough

to crumple you

by the time you reach the last

it begins

this is how the body turns

this is how the body becomes

undone