Still Here, Somehow

Yellow petals scream open.
Dirt cradles my knees, an accomplice.
Bird betrays the quiet.

The world spins too fast for someone like me.
Stillness anchors here, in this small radius of green.

I grip its spine.
Stubborn.
Alive.

Lightning bugs flicker in jars on the sill above the bakery.
I watch them the way I used to watch Marcus sleep.
Waiting for something I couldn't name.

Sun ambushes my neck.
Warmth interrogates my skin.
I am guilty of being here.

Still here.

--Vera