We destroy everything good just so it will not shame us. How easy it is to both leave & love this place. - Amanda Gorman

CALL US Grant us this day Bruising the make of us. At times over half of our bodies Are not our own, Our persons made vessel For non-human cells. To them we are A boat of a being, Essential. A country, A continent, A planet. A human Microbiome is all the writhing forms on & inside this body Drafted under our life. We are not me — We are we. Call us What we carry.

& SO It is easy to harp, Harder to hope. This truth, like the white-blown sky, Can only be felt in its entirety or not at all. The glorious was not made to be piecemeal. Despite being drenched with dread, This dark girl still dreams. We smile like a sun that is never shunted. Grief, when it goes, does so softly, Like the exit of that breath We just realized we clutched. Since the world is round, There is no way to walk away From each other, for even then We are coming back together. Some distances, if allowed to grow, Are merely the greatest proximities.

For it’s our grief that gives us our gratitude, Shows us how to find hope, if we ever lose it. So ensure that this ache wasn’t endured in vain: Do not ignore the pain. Give it purpose. Use it.