my body doesn’t want to do this.
small gurgles pressurize in my belly, they
amalgamate growing.
inhale and exhale become less,
forgetting to breathe calmly.
my hands shake. my lips press together, and
I lick my lips while they are inside my mouth.
the back of my leg, chicken skin quivering.

when you go ears over heart and heart over hips
hand in lap or on the table
breathe out of the reptilian brain and
and in the frontal cortex- thinking, listening.

It wasn’t so bad.