The year unravels, thread by thread,pins but thankfully no deadlines in my head.Chalk dust on my jeans, Uv light in my eyes,trying to juggle overtime, earthquakes, and unpleasant skies. I’ve baked resin under kitchen lamps,tiny galaxies in silicone, or wood held by clamps,perlers pixel by pixel, each square a vowto make my own patterns from…

I learned to meet myself in the mirrorwithout flinching at the way I glow—all angles, all sudden weather.I am awkward, and I am kind.I am the sum of my sparks, and I carry them now firmly. Hyperfocus is my lighthouse:its beam cuts a path through fog and doubt.I aim it with care, swivel it toward…

I lost my voice in the afterglow of bass,Subtronics stitching madness into midnight music, drops carving vowels out of me until my mouth held only thunder. By morning—Voiceless, blankets, soft light on the wall—I lay still, taken care of like a vinyl in velvet,coffee cooled on the nightstand, laughter at the door,and somehow it was…

I count heartbeats in purrs,dose myself on whiskered chemistry—soft paws kneading my chestuntil oxytocin opens like a window.I need nothing here,but the universe feels owed to me anyway—not in gold, not in thunder,only in the right to breathe without apology. When I see animals, I become water.A doe tilts its head, and I spill.My cats…