their words were building blocks,
stacking
one,
by one,
by one, on my chest
at first,
they were insidious,
nothing more than a mere annoyance,
until their tower got
bigger,
and bigger,
and bigger,
my ribs began to snap underneath the pressure,
puncturing my lungs,
making it harder,
and harder,
and harder to breath
the weight of the tower broke me
the tower I didn’t know they were building,
until it was too late,
but every tower will crumble
and every bone will heal