Trauma

I can still taste the trauma

Leaking from my mouth

It’s bitter & cold

like the bottom of a tree

After a long winter has passed

There’s something so familiar about it

Something so true

It’s unearthing what is deep inside of me

Waiting to become anew

I consider sipping something

To ease these unsettling sensations

But then I’m reminded

Of what is waiting if I just face them

So I taste the pain, I feel it in bones & remind myself that I am never alone

The waves of grief that wash over me remind me what it means to be human

To feel it all in order to heal it all

If I could only memorize the taste of bliss

then anytime bitterness decided to present me

with an unwarranted kiss...

I would smile, relax my lips

& remember this.