At night
Throw yourself away
At dawn
Remake yourself fresh
Fluid gender
Fluid sex
Be nowhere but
Let your eyes and ears wander everywhere
Be novel
Be the .5 kid
Write in ash
Turn voices of the past
Into a group of one
Bleach your heart
Dress your hands in dirt
Soak your mind in tears
Dry it in the yellow warmth
Walk half a marathon in another’s shoes
Walk the other half barefoot
For months at a time
Exercise only your fingers
Be only your fingers
Become a shadow amongst the shadows
Then emerge with a cloud of words
Rain them upon your listeners
Until they say, “You’re as essential as the weather.”
(Published first by the Eunoia Review here.)