Lord, I Worry that Love is Violence

Title inspired by José Olivarez,
"i killed a plant once because i gave
it too much water. lord, i worry
that love is violence"

So much has changed. I remember looking down at a child's hands. I remember holding a pencil with them. I remember nosebleeds in grade school. I remember the texture of my grandmother's basement floor. Rice and tea eggs. The faces of schoolteachers. I remember wondering what was wrong with me.

These days, my new body wraps around me, layers like a tree of radical love and loss. These days I look in to my eyes love the person I see despite not recognizing her entirely. These days I cradle my heart like flower petals and stigma, delicately- swayingly. These days I am tender, and anxious, and alive.

So much has changed. Loss will do that. There is a softness that this world has reduced you to. Each tearful day is a mark of your bravery, a day where you kept your heart open. You are an act of rebellion in a world that asks us to hide, mute, and fall in to order. You are an act of real, beautiful, rapturous nature- for nature knows not a straight line.

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• Only 50 issued
• Bottom segment contains stylized art title and artist statement