POTATO TIME™

I broke my nail
falling down the stairs,
and that is what hurt the most,
as I sat in A&E
waiting to see,
if my toe was broken.
The feeling of the raw edge
of keratin already
worn thin through
years of biting
now smashed into jagged shards.
I had gone down hard
hitting nearly every stair
and then the door.
Laying on the floor,
and feeling sick when
I stood up,
as I see my nail
has been reduced to a nub,
a stub,
that’s slightly bleeding.
Weeks of discipline down the drain,
that’s the pain,
when you break a nail,
that you could have never let it grow
but you did
and now you can’t let go
of the feeling of accomplishment
that comes from having long nails.
And now you failed.
And gravity won
And your nail is gone.

By Fudge Cooper, Potato Time™ Creative Director