wildcat

I’ve never been religious much —

My Faith is in the trees.

The sort of Lord I worship flies among the Bumblebees.

And my idea of Heaven is buried ‘neath Her leaves —

a lesbian couple on my bus home from school 

a man in a punk battle jacket on the street 

my mother's female CEO group chat blowing up 

four of my teachers taking the following day off 

You can't skip over the third stair

if you're sneaking into the kitchen

because all the stairs creak,

just in different ways.

They don't talk about the light

in the closet

I gather hope in my pockets.

Shiny stones

smoothed by time.

I think of the bird

that flew free from her cage one day,

I watch you shine, so full of light,
While I am stuck here at night,
Once I had dreams, a path so clear,
But now I hide my pain and fear.