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poetryA collection of 39 posts

The Hands Know the Hour

In the morning I weigh my hours,
measuring minutes I might not meet,
I decide to mark the calendar
with ink instead of with doubt—
As though tomorrow is a promise
I can keep in my pocket.

In the kitchen I pour comfort into my mug,
along with my coffee and cream.
I hold the heat between swollen hands,
letting the warmth of it chase off
the remnants of dreams about dying,
much as it eases the aches in my fingers.

I scribble lists of goals
with hope instead of hesitation,
as if writing them down
could anchor them to reality.
By nightfall I might tear them up,
treating them like secrets
not safe in my keeping.

While putting away the dishes,
I line up trust along with the tableware,
as if tidy rows will bring me a tidy life,
as if this tiny calm can quell the chaos.
I slide the drawers shut with purpose,
securing away what little control I can.

With dinner I serve a side of patience,
bland as every meal I can make myself eat—
It tastes like nothing more than endurance.
I try to swallow it without resistance,
like forcing it down might make it enough.
Maybe I can learn to crave the dull weight.

I cannot name what shifts in me
between sunrise and the sun’s descent,
its slow retreat tugging at loose threads,
pulling my careful plans into twilight,
unraveling them stitch by stitch,
until nothing is left but dusk.

While I climb into bed the hours drift ahead,
indifferent to what I make of them.
Tomorrow, like today, will pass regardless.
Whether I shape it or let it slip past me,
if I fill it with hope or hollow it out,
is a choice that will always be mine.

Call It Living

We rise as stars they hoped would never burn,
glow as sparks they tried to smother in ash.
Let them build walls to keep us out,
draw lines that define us as small.
We will spill over their barriers, steady and relentless—
a surge too tall for their levees,
a tide that will never turn back.

We will move through the world they designed
to be too narrow, too quiet, to be theirs.
Let them call us too much, too bold—
We are also too many,
and we are exactly enough.
Our voices will carry like distant thunder,
like the first shudder before the quake.

We love in colours they never learned to see,
a spectrum too wide for their narrowing minds.
We kiss with the fullness of history on our lips,
hold hands with ghosts who once whispered,
survive, survive, survive.

And we do.

We will not shrink.
We will not soften—
We will carve our joy into each day,
stand tall as banners they cannot tear down.

Let them call it rebellion—
I call it living.


Vyrážíme jako hvězdy, co nesměly hořet.
Žhneme jako jiskry, co měli uhasit v popelu.
Ať si staví zdi, aby nás drželi venku,
Kreslí hranice, jimiž nás činí malými.
Přetékáme přes jejich bariéry,
neochvějní a nezastavitelní—
vlna, která je příliš vysoká pro jejich hráze,
příliv, jenž nikdy neklesne.

Hýbeme světem, který oni kovali,
příliš úzkým, příliš tichým, jen pro .
Nechť nás nazývají: příliš moc, příliš drzí.
Jsme také příliš mnozí,
a jsme přesně dost.
Naše hlasy se nesou jako daleký hrom,
jako první otřes před zemětřesením.

Milujeme v barvách, jež jejich oči nepochopí,
světlem, co je příliš široké pro jejich zužující se pohled.
Libáme s plností historie na rtech,
a prsty splétáme s duchy, co kdysi šeptali:
přežij, přežij, přežij.

A my to děláme.

Nezmenšíme se.
Nezměkčíme se.
Vyrýváme radost do každého dne,
Stojíme jako prapory, co se nedají sundat.

Nechť to nazývají vzpourou—
já tomu říkám žití.


We rijzen op als sterren die ze nooit wilden zien branden,
gloeien als vonken die ze probeerden te verstikken onder as.
Laat ze muren stapelen om ons buiten te houden,
lijnen trekken die ons klein proberen te tekenen.
We zullen over hun grenzen stromen, standvastig en onstuitbaar—
een vloed te hoog voor hun dijken,
een getij dat zich nooit zal omkeren.

We bewegen door een wereld die ze ontworpen hebben
om te smal, te stil, te hun te zijn.
Laat ze zeggen dat we te veel zijn, te luid, te fel—
we zijn ook met te velen,
en we zijn precies genoeg.
Onze stemmen zullen dreunen als verre donder,
als de eerste huivering voor de beving.

We beminnen in kleuren die zij nooit hebben leren zien,
een spectrum te breed voor hun vernauwende blik.
We kussen met de volheid van geschiedenis op onze lippen,
hand in hand met geesten die ooit fluisterden:
overleef, overleef, overleef.

En dat doen we.
We zullen niet krimpen.
We zullen niet verzachten—
We kerven onze vreugde in elke dag,
staan recht als vaandels die ze nooit kunnen neerhalen.

Laat ze het rebellie noemen—
ik noem het leven.


On s’élève, braises d’étoiles qu’iels croyaient mortes,
on crépite encore, étincelles sous la peau de cendre.
Qu’iels dressent des murs pour nous faire dehors,
qu’iels tracent des frontières pour réduire nos élans—
on déferlerons, on refuse les contenants,
marée sans docilité, vague trop haute,
un trop-plein qui ne pliera pas.

On avance dans le monde taillé pour l’étroitesse,
un monde fait pour eux·elles·autres,
trop petit, trop silencieux, trop droit.
Qu’iels disent qu’on déborde,
qu’on crie, qu’on ose de travers—
on est là, vaste et indocile,
exactement là où on doit être.
Nos voix grondent comme l’orage en sourdine,
comme la terre qui se tend juste avant la faille.

On aime en teintes hors spectre,
éclats trop larges pour leurs œillères.
On s’embrasse avec l’histoire sur les lèvres,
main dans la main avec les voix fantômes qui chuchotaient:
survis, survis, survis.

Et on survit.

On s’effacera pas.
On s’adoucira pas.
On tatouera la joie dans chaque instant,
debout comme des drapeaux qu’on peut pas replier.

Qu’iels appellent ça une rébellion—
moi j’appelle ça vivre.

Our Fragile Threads

The house sighs heavy now—
its walls no longer know how to hold us.
Our photographs sit like ghosts on the mantel,
cold witnesses to what we were
before the edges of our lives frayed,
before we forgot how to reach for each other.

The mornings come, pale and hollow,
their light spilling over his empty chair.
I set the table out of habit,
counting plates like unkept promises made
before his seat became a shrine,
before the weight of absence filled every room.

We walk past each other like strangers
and not even your footsteps disturb the silence.
I wonder if your grief, too, is louder than mine;
if it calls your name the way he did
before his laugh was just an echo,
before his hands let go of ours forever.

At night I lie still, listening for your breath,
counting the seconds between your sighs.
I dream of our boy with his bright, bright smile,
but wake in the shadow of what we lost
before love turned to sand slipping through our hands,
before the cracks between us became a chasm.

I cling to the tattered tapestry of us,
its threads unraveling but not yet gone.
Will you help me mend what’s torn?
Will you hear the prayers I no longer speak,
before the silence unwinds what remains?
Before we forget the pattern we once were?