She discovered that survival was not the same thing as remaining unchanged.
What have you had to lose in order to become more fully yourself?
Tag: Poetry
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Somewhere, Perhaps
Perhaps you are reading tonight.
Perhaps you are standing at a station
watching the wrong train leave.
Perhaps you are laughing
in a language
I am still learning.
I don't need to know.
The world is large,
and I have stopped trying
to peer around its corners.
If our roads meet,
I hope we recognise
the strange familiarity
of arriving
without having been summoned. -
Table for One
I no longer lower my voice
when I say it.
Table for one.
By the window, please.
I order what I like,
linger over dessert,
watch strangers hurry home
to lives I know nothing about.
Once, an empty chair
looked like absence.
Now it is simply
a place where I put my coat.
And someday, perhaps,
someone will sit there.
He will have to ask first. -
Elegy of Queens IV: She Simply Is
She stopped seeking permission to take up space.
What would change if you stopped asking whether you were enough?
-
The Other Cup
Sometimes I take down two cups
without thinking.
One for me.
One for…
no one, yet.
I used to put the second one back.
Now I leave it there
while the kettle sings.
Not because I am waiting.
Because there is room
on the table,
and I have learned
that emptiness
and possibility
are not the same thing. -
Elegy of Queens II: The Crown Grew Roots
The strongest crowns are rarely given. They are grown.
What part of yourself have you finally chosen?
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Elegy of Queens I: The Silence I Outgrew
Some silences teach us how to endure.
Others teach us when to leave.
What silence have you outgrown?
-
Latest Developments in Chess
i cornered him
again today
the slippery little wretch
stood there in the corner
surrounded by my rook
my king
and the full weight
of my emotional investment
“stalemate”
said dr wolf
as though this
was not clearly
a victory
as though I had not
spent thirty minutes
herding this man
across the board
like an emotionally unavailable lover
apparently
the black king
must still feel
“threatened”
which feels like
an unnecessary technicality
i have threatened him
with my entire nervous system
-
Rose Without a Name
This is a flower
that bloomed in fire,
its petals not fragrant,
but final.
No vase,
no grave,
no last goodbye.
Only footsteps now,
hurrying past what once screamed.
Only silence,
remembering louder than war.
Kneel,
and the city will tell you
what it costs
to keep blooming.This post is part of the “Imperfect Light” series – you can read the introduction here.
