Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately

by Alicia Cook

The strongest people I know make the decision every day to wake up and place their two feet on the ground even though they know the monsters beneath their bed will grab at their ankles.

You can hide sorrow behind closed doors and inside screams muffled by pillowcases. You can stick to sorrow as if it were gum in your hair; too mangled to brush out, too jarring to chop off.

I carry you with me all of the time, but I feel your absence most on the days when I’m the happiest.

😮‍💨

What I went through replaced my backbone, once as brittle as a wishbone, with a sword.