A friend of mine asked me if I ever thought
of taking my life and making it "just so small,"
and she used her hands to show me --
grabbed an imaginary space in front of her,
about the size of a beach ball,
fingers stretched out, hands shaped like stars,
pushing the air between them smaller and tighter
down into a small, manageable space about
*this big.*
Asked me if I knew what she meant at all.

I said "I think about that every time I pack my bags
and get in a car."