Sometimes, the scent of spearmint
bends you in half, nearly breaks you open in
the middle of the garden department at Walmart.
Sometimes a peach, overlarge, left
on the tree too long, bursts
across your tongue with
the flavor of tears and Listerine.
Sometimes a burgundy lily stops
time and a bag of Miracle-Gro
is the cure for cancer and absence and oblivion.
Some grief is ungovernable.

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Moriah Painter (she/her) is a cancer researcher, freelance editor, and accessibility champion from North Carolina. She is on a sacred quest for the perfect sugar-free pie recipe. Tweet @MoriahPainter