Written by Chloé Allyn
Illustrated by Victoria Decembert

I am the color today of an unmade bed and no, my actual
bed is not left soiled, its hospital corners tucked away but today
I am let go in spirit, let down in capacity, slider halfway

I am a sink full of dishes, no not dishes with bloated rice
and rotting swampy water, I am not a feast for drain flies no
not tombstones but rinsed after dining and left for later

I am today a sewn-up rip, no not just a hole and not a mistake
where perfection was, no, today I am the aftermath, the thread
of a different shade, not lost or ruined or thrown away

I am the gray through the window, the pallid winter sun, I am
the attempt to rise and the audacity to try, I am depression getting
older, I am healing, day one by one