easy to wish for: smaller base, taller body.
we risk a few things in this way of living,
like collapse, or leaving a trace.
keeping pace/performing grace/replacing
taste with empty space –
3 times each slow rotation, a practice in
discipline. then,
all over again,              & again,      &again.

sometimes attention is more of a
hindrance than a help – the cared-for still
left unsatisfied, the paramour of hiding
gaining more allure.
&,
sometimes union isn’t strength,
rather, toxicity and feeding (when i’ve
already eaten) habits bad, like
shrinking (& being glad).

stayingonfeet means keepingontoes –
there’s a delicate element to all of it,
always spitting out flesh of each olive pit.
then, put it outside, the surrounding bulge,
and feel something about feeling
smaller-than.

*

Ren Nguyen is a jack-of-some-trades and master of none studying Interdisciplinary Visual Arts, Creative Writing, and Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington. She delights in perusing book stores and snacking on spoonfuls of nut butter. When she isn’t reading or eating, she can be found writing, making, and swooning in Seattle.