Breathing Like a Fish

I need a mantra
I'm trying too hard
I break the eggshell
And some Russian dolls fall out

Look into wanting
Look deeper, still
And you'll see the back of your head
Looking down the filthy wishing well

And I learned about my brain
And, oh, it made me smarter
I would break apart the eggshell
I would fall into the water

And I need a mantra
I need something I can imitate
Until I'm breathing like a fish
Until the purple air is white

And these hands have spokes inside them
This body's branching
See that I'm trying too hard
Always landing, always landing

So make me invisible
To you and to others
I've forgotten how to read
I'm getting better

And now I'm looking deeper
I tossed a coin into the ocean
As this well is drying up inside
How these hands have spoken

And I smash apart the Russian dolls
And I'm all cut with slivers
And my blood is breaching like a whale
As the well dries up the rivers

Your body is branching
As I twist to eat the serpent's tail
I'm trying too hard
This joke just writes itself