CIGARETTES

WATER

I take after my mother’s family Anger drips from my pores Instead of consuming me like an all-encompassing wildfire It coats me like a protective layer I wear it like sunscreen on my skin, intended to ward off damage

the girl was small yet mighty: an ant scuttling across the sand with ten times her weight on her back. all the while, she smiled and hummed her pain away. after many days of watching this, i stopped her and asked, “how do you do it?”