Love Poem 16

I know how to navigate the worst.

I know how to protect myself.

I know how to swallow pain.

I know how to insulate myself during the

winters of rejection that

stretch on for years.

I can find an

oasis

in blistering wastelands.

I can read a tombstone better than I can a face.

I can tell you if a spirit is at peace or wanders restlessly.

I can tell you about void, about total vacuum,

and I can tell you about escape and compartmentalization,

and I can tell you a lot about dissociation.

I don’t know much about connection,

or love,

or union,

and I know less about

really living,

but I feel an atmosphere building and

I feel life beneath my feet

as my heart beats with the beginnings of confidence.