Hanging Up

You call me up on the phone

while I’m on my way to work

and leave another vaguely hysterical voicemail. 

That panic in your voice

letting me know

you’re on the cusp.

Your emotions

encroaching on my space.

Suffocating me.

And part of me wants to call you back, right away.

To try to comfort you.

Try to counsel you.

Try to save you.

But then the anger boils up to the surface.

The chaos,

the drama,

one crisis after another.

Your word-
crisis.

It’s all so familiar to me.

And I remember

who I am now

and who

I no longer choose to be.

So I tuck the phone

back into my pocket

and drive on.