Fray

a frayed edge of a toothbrush

or a rug

tell me i’m truly alive

in case i doubted which

i do, sometimes

it wears on me

time

like my teeth

on brushes

or my feet

on rugs

i am being erased

by moments

and i bristle, but this encourages

my erasure

the present cleansed of me

by time rubbing against me

and time cleaned by me

like teeth by a brush

bright white

as always

while i fray.