Is this what you want from me?
A simple simile or a nice metaphor;
an easy way for you to get inside
and somehow wrap your mind around my words;
an image, that is everything, to envision;
something to hold as a snapshot in your mind.

Well, read on, and I’ll prostitute my misery for you.
I’ll give you that simile; that goddamned metaphor
to help you find some deeper meaning.
I’ll unlock that pain; touch it; caress it;
let the darkness and raw hatred flow over me
to give you a few words to remember for five minutes.

Is this what you really want?
My soul laid bare on the page
eviscerated; stripped down to the bone.
That’s what you truly desire isn’t it?
For me to evoke the images for you;
pictures of the devastation within my mind.

I’ll display, for your reading pleasure,
the agonizing pain that I suffer
while enduring the prospect of eternity alone.
Exhibiting, for interpretation, my broken heart,
like some sun-bleached carcass in the desert,
long since picked over by the greedy vultures.

Or perhaps you’d like me to pick at my mental scars,
re-opening the old wounds to bleed ugly, black bile!
No blood remains there; only the basest of emotion,
like a monster straining to tear at my tattered sanity.
My anger, hatred, and despair advance unchecked,
overwhelming the previously safe realms of my mind.

So tell me, is this what you really want?
Just say the word and I’ll thrust ego aside
to recount the nightmarish illusions, the angst,
and the naked fears that rule my fragile psyche.
I’ll coin my pain into worthless words for you!
I’ll give you what you want, I’ll give you what you need!