December 23, 2025

Your refusal to relent, carried in your blood, must be stronger than mine.
I can barely remember to have life most days, yet I think I live more than you.

---

January 2026

There are coals in all my pores, invading the face I’ve known for thirty years.
I don’t recognize the sadness living there despite decades of unresolved grief.
This one is new, unknown, and deep within me.

---

40x Zoom, January 2026

i’m like a microorganism
poked, prepped, and perceived
a knot of tissue under stage-lit slides
turn me
twist me
take out my insides
squeeze me tight until confetti
comes out

---

Dancing, January 2026

i’ve been living my days on repeat
over a year on rewind
chained in place by invisible shackles

the sway of the inevitable to the
lilt of a song
slow motion waltzing down the
length of red carpet

i’m screaming so loud through a
mouth wired shut
but the cameras only catch the
momentary mirage

---