on walking back and taking back.

i have words

. in my head.

a hundred blackbirds

in a winter sky,

but they won’t be caught.

not

today.

i cannot

string

them

onto

paper.

because

i am searching

for all the pieces of myself

that i have left.

left,

in other days

and

other months

and

other years

and

other people.

i am travelling through time,

. rescuing me.

one

mistake

at a time.

and spring,

will soon be here.

words,

will marry paper

once again.

and

the blackbirds will settle.

yes, they will.

soon.

—on walking back and taking back.

Photograph by Alice Castro.

liezel graham