we begin in an empty space we birth it a life we root umbilical chords out through our feet and into the ground when they emerge, we hold our children upside down
we run into walls we navigate one aother we speak an unspoken language we pick apart the symbols woven into our bodies
we place our hands on ourselves, each other, our foreheads, between our own legs we comfort ourselves by stroking our own hair
we incite mythical deities and ingest orchids we curl our toes towards our faces we conjure the devil herself up through the floor we drive knives through our ribs we smash our knees into our cheeks not to punish, but to feel the empowerment of purging
we study the alchemy of life we gargle spells to ourselves laden with eights, memoirs, directions we are kings, magicians, maidens, witches we are women, dancers, orchids: we cling to dust and flourish in dark spaces.