Reach out your hand this time—can you feel me? Can you not?

Hold on. Not yet.

Reach out your hand now. Can you feel me? Can you not?

Your birth-blind eyes see only darkness. That’s still not it. That’s just hair.

My fingers, touch them now… no, no, no,

not there—my throat. Earthen sculptures shaped by

venomous artists. That’s not fire. That’s my youth.

 

[...]