By ZOE ALARCON
i once thought my body was
empty of me, other than the light
buzz of energy, unease
until I learned the weight
of remembering could swallow
me if I didn’t swallow it
open my heart as
the next ripple of time
propagated to join it in
the next degree of something
shed a little of the inability
To let go, feel the wind scrape
My throat like bottles
when you blow across the top
and the sharp sensation escapes
you
my aunt says its useless
experiencing a crisis before it happens
but putting myself through it twice
let me articulate it quicker, more clearly
after the second time, i don’t say
guilty assigning someone else
the task of creating clarity of deep fear
just to let the sparks it cast
settle from their momentum
made small by the stretch of eternity
like i’m putting things off
but gaining the euphoria of
movement
held by roots drawn in me
by noises, words, and loves
remembered to navigate
hollow spaces
and live among them
Writer | Zoe Alarcon ’25 | zalarcon25@amherst.edu
Editor | Jihyun Paik ’24 | jpaik24@amherst.edu
Artist | Erxi Lu ’24 | erlu24@amherst.edu