Salutations!
This is a beautiful poem. It's, at times, rather difficult to read (intentionally so, I imagine), but after a while, you get used to the formatting — or lack thereof.
I admittedly don't quite understand the reasoning behind the difference in formatting between the first and second stanzas, but I do get the impression that the former is very… restrained. Kind of like everything is being put into a box, because of the spacing and approximate uniformity in appearance. It also has punctuation, which is largely missing from the second stanza. The second stanza, then, feels much freer, just like how the former thoughts that have been limiting the speaker have now been shed. That, specifically, is the difficult part to read, but there's sometimes a (coincidental) touch of assonance that makes it a bit more refreshing.
Out of curiosity, what justifies a line break in the second stanza? For the most part, the lines continue as long as they want and then terminate near the limit of what fits here on YWS. At other times, though, they terminate prematurely. I can see that's clearly for emphasis, so don't worry about my question in those instances. In the others, did you just end a line when you felt like it? It's difficult to address the metre of this part, given the lack of punctuation and general formatting, but maybe you had something in mind.
I dislike critiquing the formatting of freeform pieces where the absence of formatting is applied to this extent; however, I do think it could be approached a bit more conscientiously to achieve a better effect. I can't say much more about it beyond that. (Sorry if this doesn't entirely make sense; it's been years since I reviewed poetry.)
Nevetheless, I can offer a definite piece of advice, and that's with the appearance of the teddy in the third section of the second stanza. It not being present before is perfectly fine, but it feels like it's overemphasised here, which does clash with the aforementioned absence. Introducing an image or metaphor this late into a poem isn't ideal, so if you ever feel like revising this poem (which likely isn't a priority, but still), you could look into that! It would work especially well with how no-one is watching, yet the teddy is (and therefore technically isn't, given its inanimacy XD).
As a concluding note, I do appreciate how the speaker ceased cutting in the end. I'm a sucker for happy endings, so that makes me content. And add to that a theme of celebrating your victory even without anyone else to celebrate with you? Even better! :D
Thanks for posting this. :)
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