The Epilogue

SHEYLA MEDINA

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Stomach knotted 

All ways deep

Gutted from the inside out

I turn the knob

My chest tightens

I lose my breath

In the home I made from scratch

 

From silver linings

Romantic visions of community

The certainty of belonging

This is how I made you from scratch

 

My eyelids squeeze out the mourning

I uplifted, shifted, remolded

Tortuous paths of truth 

To build you from scratch

 

Yet you are frozen

The stillness of winter

Relentless against the burst of Spring

The roses wilt on the windowsill

Like raisins in the sun

I, too, sang of open doors

This is how I made you from scratch

 

My eyes fixed longingly

At the broken foundation

My voice muffled

In the crisp nothingness of silence

 

It is not safe here

In the home I made from scratch

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