a varied collection of truths

my heart is the size of a fist
because i need it to fight

anxiety:
crows squabbling inside my throat when i want to speak
boa constrictors lazily hugging my ribs, tighter and tighter

spring is blooming, impossibly dark
crocuses, saturated violets,
opening windows expecting warmth and
receiving fall’s cold shoulder

i have swallowed my secrets,
they laze in my stomach, gnawing
at my organs like a predator waiting
for the chase

love; i want it like nature loves
the tides, dew, a canyon’s erosion
complete fusion, absorption,
patient transitions over millenniums

healing is monotonous. boring, even.
slow and quiet, unnoticeable. exhaustion.
and yet it is worth it, worth the wait for
the blooming.

sometimes i do not feel like a whole person;
just a collection of empty spaces
i used to occupy

By Odelia Fried

Biography:

Odelia Fried is a student, poet, and actor based in NYC. Her work can be found in The Fem, Cleaver Magazine, Melancholy Hyperbole as well as other literary magazines. Her passions include gender identity, Judaism, adolescence, and the intersections of the three.