A Guide on How to Feel

I’m still here. A new poem from yours truly. Written on the Brown Line in Chicago. 9.29.22

at a bar in new york city i cried

the grime caked under my finger nails and staining the tips

the mascara smears under my eyes, blue shadows, rings of red

like warpaint the way ink from a pen

bleeds on paper when I write of how I feel

a villainous treason that not a soul cares

because of the way they wear

their hearts on their sleeves with reckless abandon