I am sisterhood, cackles at 2am, always farmer’s market ready, let’s-talk-about-our-love-stories, hard work that feels good, the mud on my feet. I am tequila and a karaoke machine, a story told with poetic embellishment for the purpose of captivation, 10 minutes late but I have pie. I am a woman who smells like apple cider vinegar sometimes. I’ve still got some silvers in my teeth, and I head out in public with them stained by beets. I hope you like keeping things until they fall apart, clipping off the dead leaves, tending to your heart.
Every single one of these years
have been made up of days.
Every one of your tears
Have paved river-ways for you,
Fallen and gave to you,
Mineral-drenched soil,
Ripe summer rain.
All of my best instructors have said:
Shoulders back, chin down, heart up, eye(s) awake.