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by Sofia Bonilla

There are some words that feel too powerful to say out loud.

This week I learned the intimacies of this.

To say it quickly, in passing, feel callous.

To linger on its meaning has broken my body down.

There is no magic solution,

There is no instant fix.

There are band-aids we pretend heal our wounds,

There is gauze we hope can hold our edges together.

And I don't want this pain-

it is not mine to hold.

But to give it up feels wrong,

as if my grief is all that defines my humanity.

- a lesson in grief

sometimes I sit down and

my soul spills out of my pen.

oftentimes I'll share these intimacies

with others- I think doing so

both takes away some of its power

and gives some of it back to me-

and my hands will shake

as I hold up a shard of my being.

I've seen this echoed in others.

even those who I thought of as

steady, confident, collected, fearless, untouchable,

even they shake.

for what is more revealing than sharing the burdens of your heart?

what else requires such trust?

what could possibly be so intimate?

- here is my soul. don't drop it

Ekphrasis poem: [WANDERER above the SEA of FOG]

The man has lived many lifetimes.

He has climbed many mountains and navigated many seas.

This is peak #13,278.

The man will live many more lifetimes.

He has many more mountains to climb and many more seas to navigate.

He will always come back to peak #13,278.

It is not the highest peak he has ventured up.

It does not have the most beautiful view that he has seen.

But there is something too dominant about only favoring

the best, the tallest the prettiest, the strongest.

The earth will rebuild and reform and change it all,

With time.

He can wait.

Here, he is not man as old as the earth.

Here he is just a man who chose to stand and observe.

- peak #13,278 out of infinity