The Thread

Poetry has the power to strip away the noise and reach the soul at the speed of light.

Once the words are spoken, something shifts.

The heart reveals itself.

And so goes the quiet realization that many of the differences we practice and protect begin to lose their hold in the presence of true vulnerability.

We find the thread.

The pull toward instead of against.

That is what clicked the first time I attended a poetry gathering and stepped up to the mic in September of 2022.

I remember being surprised by how quickly strangers became recognizable.

I did not expect that someone who spent most of her life writing in secret would one day be curating spaces built around the power of words.

Maybe it was never irony at all. Only instinct. 

Tree branches bend toward the light.