There is only dissent
Every new announcement
Feels like another strike across her
already bloodied back
There are no steps
On the path to awakening
There is only descent
She must enter the dirty
tunnel
It is open. It begs
to be felt
She sees the death of her
grandmothers
She pours the water
Into the next cup
Lifts her hair
Off her sweaty neck
She was born for this
She bit the apple
Pricked her finger on the needle
Bargained her voice away
She wanted to taste it
To lick every drop
Of life
And it swept her away, for a while
She looks outside herself
Pretends she does not know
What lives inside her body
Pretends she cannot feel
What is eating her alive
She is sleeping beauty
And no one is coming to save her
She must awaken herself
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– maybe one day I will tell my children
– the crows, unconcerned, will be happy to eat our bodies when they fall
– the pulse of the earth / is what you are missing