the red poinsettia leaves shine in the diwali lights that the kids had fixed in the evening. i pick from the floor,  sheets of stickers and random drawings of tiaras. cleaning is most definitely still not something i do voluntarily. my back and my abdomen hurt as if someone had extracted all the organs, stomped over them, then stuffed them right back in. maybe not in the right order either.

my heart hurts

(backdated 2017)