“Bellflower” - 12/23/2025
It’s been a long time since I wrote a poem
About someone captivating enough to make me
Miss what I haven’t even had yet the language
Of my youth the definition of a muse
I lie awake thinking about possibility with the
Intensity I normally reserve for voracity
Hunger has perpetually gotten the best of me
Since lockdown an appetite so strong
I’ve been in no danger of disappearing instead
I’ve looked in the mirror and hardly recognized
Just how present I’ve learned to be each breath
A masterclass wrestling with living miraculously
We get better to live we get better to become
More fully ourselves we get better knowing
Others have not been so blessed I found her
Correspondence in my dm’s scrolling back
Happenstance something made me - nearing
The end of such an up and down year travels
Galore beautiful adventures friendships forged
And then there she is her sweet notes of
Understanding of curiosity questions wondering
How was I doing we had the same diagnosis she
In another country across the pond armed with
Her beautiful family’s love me surrounded by
Doubt but doing all the things healing myself
With poisons offset by equal amounts of proof
So now when I consider whether or not
Hope is the thing with feathers time spoofs
So loudly I wonder am I soul-traveling bells
In my heart alarms in my blood disarming regret
Before I’ve even looked in your eyes white flags
Blue lobelias lining this path as if we’ve always
Been living perennial parallel lives
