A Sad Bone, by Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @brianrrs37 on Twitter)

It is a solo flight
Always will be
Even if you are selfish
And take some company

It comes in great heights
It has schedules for day and night
It has cotton covering it
And safety caps for kids

It is a solo flight
Into the fermenting of grain
Rice, wheat, barley, but of fruit too
Plumbs, apple, grapes ,even potato

It is the barber
Inviting you to go beyond smooth
Your chin, your cheek, your neck
Your wrists

It is a solo flight
A billion fireflies illuminating
Around you, monarch butterflies
Surround you

But this you don’t see
The salmon rushing upstream
The whale spouting sea water
Breaching the surface to breath

In corner of the bedroom
The faint meows, helpless
Vulnerable, blind kittens
Wriggle trying to find her nipples

But you’ve loaded it
Every single chamber
Where to put it?
Mouth, temple, chest?

Your sister is coming home
She will find the grey confetti
And strawberry jam
Chunks of stew

Your homework, the placemat
Overwhelmed with your grief
You made a grand exit didn’t you?
The solo flight, nobody wanted to see.

Macabre piñata
There are no treats in you
The tree branch, ceiling fan
Is the friend of your lasso

It is a solo flight, don’t go, don’t go.
(end)

“Sad Bone” is an ode to Anne Sexton’s poem “Wanting To Die” in which she uses those words to describe suicide.

I take suicide very seriously having been suicidal myself. I write about this because I want others who may feel the same to realize that they are not alone, but if they do succeed there is no do over. You would not be reading this now, if I had followed through the first time I thought about it, and that was when I was a teen, over 40 years ago.

Again, if you are having these feelings, talk to a trusted friend, or family member, call a hotline, or 9-1-1. There are people who care and want to help.