I wandered through my memories
connecting ribbons of my DNA
to mirror points
of my family’s traits
The curves of our anxieties,
the hollows of our joy,
the landings of our love,
and the camouflage for fear,
hiding as anger
or avoidance
or numbness,
where we hung out
associated
in our disassociation,
laughing to quell
the monsters
we all knew existed
but pretended didn’t
and we loved hard
and acted like the rest
was a figment of our
collective imaginations
And the friends who
helped us through,
the ones who knew
but held the space
and returned for tea
in our chipped cups;
acknowledging
we were worthy
in all our unworthiness
just like everyone
we knew
