in contemplating the concept of unconditional acceptance / I have gazed on the folds of my shower curtain / the one with the tentacles clutching a tall ship / and lost focus in my eyes / until all the misty world blurred into / cloaks of fog around my nakedness / these are lessons for the lizard brain / the one that refuses and refutes / the one that strikes behind the knees / hissing in a tongue I have invented / on the edges of dreaming / I push my fingers into its hot tar / and extract flowers / blooming in colors of sunset / broken pink and orange across the eastern clouds / awake
Amanda Kooser (she/they) is a 2022 graduate of the UNM creative writing MFA program. Work is upcoming in Yellow Arrow Journal, The Twin Bill and the New Mexico Poetry Anthology. Twitter: @akooser.