Anxiety Is

Anxiety is a thick black 

viscous substance that 

thrums beneath the skin.

It seeps into the heart and weighs it down.

Its tendrils wrap themselves around the

lungs and ribcage

and squeeze.

It is grease for the wheels of the mind that never slow down.

It is the stuff that 

sticks

in jaws and causes teeth to 

crush and grind.

It seeps out of the skin as tears

and sweat

and mucus

and becomes shimmering water once it oxidises.

Sometimes it runs hot and turns saliva into venom and unleashes words that were coiled in the brain.

And just as a bee gives its last breaths to sting so does the venom cool and coagulate until the words can’t be brought back and the body goes cold

and it gets dark

in the sarcophagus wrapped around the self.

From sun rise to sun set the black liquid buzzes and hums as it vibrates

a constant 

noise.