Confessional

juj e lepe

i'm not immune to frills, i gather every stone,
every feather: gold edge of ginkgo, blue streaks

painting black ink. my home is a garden of scatterings,
behold—beeswax bedazzled glass, dried strawflower

decorating sills, the paper fortune on my fridge
that reads:

“A part of us remains wherever we have been.”

                                                       you, the world, remain with me,
i shall cultivate your color, i shall pray with selenite and sage.

lovers come and go, they untuck sheets,
dismiss potions and pressed flowers, ask nothing

of the shells encircling my sleep. i wake
to a rustling in the trees: a belligerence of birds.

the leaves, they are changing quickly, wait—let me
look at you, gather you,

                                            enshrine your many shapes.

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juj e lepe was born and raised in Stockton, California. They are a poet, an educator, an auntie, and more. Their work has appeared in The Rumpus, The Acentos Review, Pile Press, and elsewhere. They are currently an MFA candidate at UW-Madison.