You're Ok?

it’s like this...

I catch myself confirming
this is not a fever dream
I don’t want to wake from. 
sweat is not pleasure or pain, 
it’s reaction, it’s response.
it’s my cue to listen, follow, 
heat with intention, focus. 

I spend this life seeking
out warmth, like the coffee in 
your eyes, like the fire in
your hands, like the sunshine
my sunflower heart yearns for.

I walk this existence seeking
out hope, like “I believe that
we will win,” like accountability
we will center, like healing
the spiritual wounds of this place.

I search this world for velvet,

finding instead so many coarse 

edges of sandpaper that just, 

it's just hard to be soft in a

world of sharp edges and

your radical love, you're radical

love is a salve I thought I

might never find in this form.

... it’s like this.