Discomfort Zone

Solid cast-iron

digging into my hands,

testing my ability to withstand

its inertia

at the nadir of every single swing.

The chorus of exertion

as every muscle works in tandem

with its neighbor

to launch that weight

straight back to its zenith.

There, at the peak,

I'm light as a feather,

in total control

of the turnaround.

*

Tumultuous and poorly lain

concrete

colliding with my feet

for as many miles

as I can take.

Fire rakes across

the insides of my lungs

and I'm grateful —

the combustion

of my inner engine,

the soul furnace,

is an antithetical,

homiletical rebuttal

to the diabolical winter night

attempting to freeze me in place.

*

Over the hill of that

hard-earned pain

lies all that I could ever

seek to gain.

In that liminal

brain-space

where demons are slain,

the refrain

of their reverberating cries

is lovely music.

What remains

in the wake of the war

is a person

far stronger than he was before.

The voice in his head

which once shouted,

"You're worthless!"

is silenced,

reduced to a stain

of sweat on the floor

along with anger,

self-pity

and feeling unsure.

*

Suddenly,

pillows feel softer.

Books read deeper.

Love tastes sweeter.

Highs climb steeper.

Songs move stronger.

Words flow freer.

All that life demands of me

comes easier,

easier,

easier.

*

If you enter

my comfort zone,

you'll first hear

the thundering baritone

of hammer

striking anvil.

You'll see inferno to banish

depression's debilitating frost,

and blizzards to cool

the burning grief of loss.

And at the nucleus

of this Ginnungagap,

a hapless bed

of grass and flowers,

balanced upon a sea

of jagged stones.

*

When one's happy place

is made to look like Hell,

then all is well

in the mind of the self-inflictor,

for the world outside,

however harsh it becomes,

looks like strawberry fields

by comparison.

Mentality is fortified

by a garrison

of scar tissue marionettes

made to move

by the lightning strikes of toil,

and all the small things

in the world combined couldn't spoil

my mood.

Good.