<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">When the Heart Flies Open</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">On airways sickened shut</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> for seeking long in wrong black alleys</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">On forgottenness of darkened minds</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> growing backwards</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">On fists of stubborn aloneness</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> never to be opened </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> even by love</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Graffiti I scrawl</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> On chest walls painted wet with Do Not Enter signs.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Then on the backs of the broken</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> I write these words that fly from me</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> unbidden.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I will find all of you</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> and from the desert of my wordlessness</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> stand at the mirror of you</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I offer </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Coolest water for your lips</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Sleep to rest your wandering</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Kisses where you are tortured</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Holding you tenderly</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> cradling your babyness </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> counting blessings like fingers and toes</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And all the time</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> sliding through your mirror </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> to myself.</p><div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Sashana Kane Proctor</p><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></div></div></div></div></body></html>