“Your persistence delivered me here. I am indebted to you.”

“There are days when I regret making friends with my grief, but then I remember all the times she / helped me give birth to my joys.”

“though the table feels empty, with me alone / the air thick with unspoken words, / I savor this bowl, finding comfort”

“i am a moth because / my father was a moth / and his father was a moth “

“…to love this body / is to deem it worthy of patience / and endless grace no other earthly being could grant even if they tried.”

“Her brow breaks like the tide…”

“now it’s mother, / tied with the ropes of rebellion, / gagged by the makeshift cloth / made of the skin of her daughter’s heart—”

“I, too, carry the burden of blooms: / chrysanthemums of achievement, / ivy of promises, entwined too tight—”

“When can I rest my knuckles? / Where shall I grow my tender dreams?”

“Just last year I cut the ends of my relaxed hair and let my thick fro grow wild / I licked the brown hues of joy’s elbows / I cried from laughter until snot graced my chin”

“souls settle in between the crevices that is where i find myself / a beautiful disaster / chaos meets the calm”

“This disintegration is a calling / of sorts. Charmingly uncontrollable.”