petals

there’s a muscle in

my jaw

that ticks like a clock,

and ink under my

skin that crawls out

through my eyes.

i am suffocated with

poetry

and liberated

at the hands of the rain.

there are secrets

in the creaking of my house

and falling of trees

and the swaying of leaves.

there is permanence

in the roots i have planted,

i have planted

in the people i love.

i have begged to be loved

yet the scars on my knees are

fading and the stitches are

falling away.

my brain won’t remember everything;

i hold memories

in the cracking of

my ribs

and the heaving of my

chest.

i hold memories in the

pads of my fingers

and the curl of my wrist.

i hold my memories

and i carry them everywhere,

like a flurry of petals

in my breath.