Soft
1 min readSep 22, 2020
Sucking in my stomach
and tensing my shoulders
feels normal,
like just how people are,
prudent, even
And I could live, and have lived
that way
But you can’t see me when I hold my breath
So you ask me to let it out
And only in the exhale
do I feel the spot that doesn’t want to let go
The one I am protecting
And I see how protecting it
has only hurt
I thought I was soft
But there are places in me too tight for love to get in
And even after all this time
It surprises me that they, too, could open