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Kolbe Riney

heels

When I was younger I jumped
into a snowdrift
and followed them for miles
through wind-
torn graveyards and
found my legs frozen red and white
and burning back to life.
I can only tell you
that cold feet
and hands
are what
pull the wires from the back
power strip
and turn mouth
and body a buzzing quiet like
that moment where large, smooth
fish filled my mouth
with brine
so sharp it burst from my nose
and eyes.
 
And I ask you:
what does it look like
to heal?
Do you count
the running?
 
Do you count becoming
whitewater draw
cranes lifting up
in a chain
of roots,
or becoming
us circling
each other like dusky hawks
hunting
a rabbit
but these white flashes are
the stripes of stairs and windows
as we turn
and turn and turn
in the small cross
of this dark maze.

Picture
Kolbe Riney is a queer poet and student based in Tucson, Arizona. Her poetry centers on themes of healing and experience through the lens of PTSD.
Art: Leaving Darkness by Cierra Rowe
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