Joel Bustos writes about a mind in survival mode. The speaker opens with "thoughts and little dreams" that are already broken, "piece by piece," and the small word "maybe" suggests they aren't even sure how much damage there is. Trying to pick the pieces up feels uncertain too: "it seems."
The poem then shifts from description to a kind of self-talk. "Let's figure out a way" sounds like someone coaxing themselves forward, trying to keep things from getting "worse, than now." The awkward pauses and commas in these lines make the speaker sound tired and unsteady, as if each thought takes effort.
By the last line, everything has narrowed to one goal: staying alive. The title's "one simple task if all else fails" echoes that, though nothing about the task feels simple. The mood is heavy, fragile and quiet, but there is also a stubborn thread of effort. The speaker is still trying, and that matters.