cicadas orchestrate

elasticity isn't a thing

i paid attention to when i was four

maybe in Play-Doh

but in my face? who wants a stretchy face?

well, i'll be

if i didn't reinvent my story

so it would fit inside your ear

land comfortably in your mind

spill confidently out of your mouth

It's tempting to sum up a person—to leave it at that—to relieve yourself and others of a story too complicated to tell in one sitting.

Try not to.

this ground

feels like shifting sands

like shaky hands

like a scribbly line drawn

on a piece of paper

like when they measure

an earthquake

I won’t give you my shoes to walk in, but I’ll lend you my mirror to hold.

i’m a sleepy baby

wearing crooked shirts

and my hair looked

okay in the front

but apparently could house some

rats in the back

and why do they call it a “rat’s nest” anyway?

so much stripped away from me

mostly all that i would be

i was blind but now i see

i was clean but now i'm free