I’m a shrinking giant in a world I created. It was fun, you know. I got to rip open planets and drench their bones in my favorite colors. Plant willow trees in spots where the sun shines too bright in order to make them look less sad. Stretch out the stars to help them mesh in an eerie luminescence. These things all have a piece of my heart and they help me learn how to love myself. I watched my mom smoke a cigarette on our back porch the other day. Her hands still tremble from all the damage- they’re still soft though. She is still gentle. She is still warm. Her eyes engulf the tree branches- dark like the ashes that the embers throw away. Tells me that the leaves are getting tired. Watch them sag from the dreary branches as frost creeps it’s way through the town. I created a part of that too because everything that blooms must fall at some point. That’s what makes it special. And I rather be planted in a cold season so that the iced corners of the earth don’t reach for me as quickly. That’s some sort of magic I’ll never understand. I’m boiling down like water. Nesting into a place that might just feel like home. Falling never felt so okay. Makes me remember that I’m getting there. Im getting there, I’m getting there like the tired leaves. -AMT