Unspooling Brain

Thought snaps like elastic
A whip crack across the inside of the skull
And suddenly the world is tilted
Shifting like glass shards
In a box too small for itself
One thought
Then another
Spinning outward
A thread pulled too tight
It tangles
Knots form before you know it
Where was the beginning?
Where is the end?
Everything bends inward
Until the lines blur
Until it’s a flood of half-thoughts
Half-screams
Half-questions with no answers

A flicker
Another image crowds in
Too sharp, too fast
It burns
Leaves traces
Stains behind the eyelids
Each impulse a hammer
Striking the wrong chord
Noise
Noise without pattern
Just jagged flashes that pulse
In time with nothing

There’s no escape hatch here
No red button to push
The brain whirs on
A machine gone rogue
Spitting sparks in the dark
Everything that should settle
Only rises
Bubbles over
Until the air itself hums
With unfinished ideas
That slam into walls and ricochet
Breaking more than they build

The hands twitch
Grasp at the impossible
Trying to gather all the falling pieces
That scatter before they even land
Out of control
Out of breath
Every synapse a firework
Going off just a little too soon
Leaving smoke and debris
But no light
No end to the rattling noise