"A poem about not being able to write poems anymore" by Amanda Pape

I’m not sure why all the words are gone

Along with all the flowery,

long-winded metaphors

Into the abyss of algebra formulas

Moms requests to defrost the chicken

and all the times

The Nuclear Bomb in my head

gave those in proximity radiation burns

Words once flowed

bouncing off the rhythm of

My mother’s womb

The echo of her canyon heart

Reverberating in my mind

Now split into the tributaries,

bursting capillaries

of chaotic thought

What

A goddamn

Mess