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

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

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

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

“In your offspring, the future women of your bloodline, will you learn to be empowered to take up space; to stop hiding things about yourself that seem different in this cold, new world; to feel content in how much you know about the way the world works.”