Dear Mom

Dear Mom

Your endless love, your little bird bones, the dark green waters of your soul.

Wounds in Messiah Sandals

Wounds in Messiah Sandals

I asked if you kept the old habits. You smiled without teeth and said, “the best place to hide track marks is between your toes.” You wear your wounds so plain in your messiah sandals.

Fibers

Now, as I am one year and seven months from thirty, I understand the infinity of growing old. I imagine myself as recycled clay. Formed into this year, grabbed by another and shaped into that one—but where is the kiln? Where is the sun that dries the grapes?

Welterweight

Welterweight

I still think about the endocrinologist lifting my shirt to see how my ribs were jutting out of the skin.