213: Human

People say How are you doing

and I tell them about the cracks in my calendar,

about the dog at the window, about you

and your desk with all your hard work.

I don’t mention the ways I’m unsure of this body,

her unfamiliar softness, her rounded down corners.

I don’t mention the floors. How the laminate is peeling. How it drives us crazy when it sticks to bare feet. I leave out the bit about my dying plants, how the first floor and I are always wanting for light. I don’t mention the mornings, which are lush with calm. Or how I feel most alive when it’s about to storm. We skate by on niceties. I hold my cards to my chest. But instead of saying, wasn’t she polite, I’d rather them say oh wasn’t she human?

Written by Sarah A. Speed // Writing the Good