By Mina Talebi, TIWP Student

Boney fingers are warmer than they should be
Baby, you say in your native language
Let me seep the sorrow from your neck
Cry all of the hardship into my hands

The wind plays at a whisper of a whisper
Some secret that could bring retribution and justice and you just can’t hear
Heartbeats climb up your throat
The local frog screams and clutches her stomach
She is pregnant and worried all the time

My love this is no place for fear
Here is for the bravest
Like the earthworms and mighty garden snakes
Here is for the warriors that shake sand from their eyelids and don their boxing gloves
My mother made me here and I will stay here
Eternal and impermanent
Ladybugs and your nose
Skin that familiarized itself with my own
Here is for you looking at me like you could eat me alive

Sweat glands and hair follicles are tougher than they say
Sting and growl and spit and tug
They won’t let this kill them
On the other side of something big is something even bigger

If you stop talking long enough, I could tell you what the wind whispered
How the earthworms marched
Why the warriors hate the desert
The way that my mother holds me
Like I am still her child
Pigtails
Mud pies
Sweat and brave bugs