by Linda M. Crate
this is me:
a girl that loves
too hard and too much
and too intensely,
this is me:
a girl that never gives up
on herself or he dreams;
this is me:
a girl who is optimistic
beyond the point
of foolishness because she
knows miracles and magic
exist—
this is me:
someone who was told she
was too much so she swallowed herself
down
until one morning she spilled out of
her own bones—
the moon told me i was beautiful
as i was, in all of my phases,
no matter how much or how little light
i had left in my bones;
so i decided i'd be me so i wouldn't shatter
like glass when i couldn't be someone's expectation.
Linda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer whose poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has twelve published chapbooks the latest being: Searching Stained Glass Windows For An Answer (Alien Buddha Publishing, December 2022). She is also the author of the novella Mates (Alien Buddha Publishing, March 2022). Her debut book of photography Songs of the Creek (Alien Buddha Publishing, April 2023) was recently published.