Embroidery
you have seen too few sunrises to have already unlearned innate
skills of life — too young to step through days with toes helplessly
curled against needlepoints, yet here you are. you may someday
discover hatred for me, who claimed love but never properly tended to
your pierced feet: I am sorry. perhaps your lips curve when I am elsewhere, spinning amber thread into haphazard shapes. you pick up
& refasten your own pieces, still dancing so skillfully across the floor:
let me be proud, even if I will never deserve to be. I have not seen
you stitch a smile in some time —
though you must know how to, surely.
Noreen Ocampo (she/her) is a Filipina American writer double-majoring in English and Film Studies at Emory University. She is also currently a book reviewer for COUNTERCLOCK, a very amateur singer-songwriter, and an Animal Crossing enthusiast. In the future, Noreen aims to fulfill a role in the intersection between storytelling and education. She is a regular contributor for Marías at Sampaguitas.