I was trying to survive the misty melancholy mornings of an ancient anguish like a third marriage breeding children of ink. I was lethargic with seasonal transition, yet restless with becoming, inspired by the cadence of sleet turned flurry, harmony of the quiet, eyes in the cornfield flickering like fireflies now almost extinct.

If sorrow is a sickness, I am terminal with constellations of sadness. My winter coat has more structure than my life, but feather and thread can’t type, can only keep me upright for so long, and I cannot waste a rare moment of golden apricity, cracking December’s cardinal egg shell, bruising in the brumal lake of your email.

Prompts used (tags are the poets’ IG handles):

@__vigilancee - “the harmony of quiet” @loisofthehearth - “My Winter Coat Has More Structure Thatn My Life” @arcanapoetrypress - “ancient anguish” - from QUEERHEDONIA by Kris Nicholas Conrad @octavia.poetry - “apricity” @tangledflxwers - “sorry I didn’t reply to your email, I was trying to survive” + “the eyes in the cornfield stare back” @libbyjenner.poetry - “love falls in flurries” + “lethargic seasonal transition” @m.l.macdonald - “inspired by her cadence” @arica_writes + domarleypoet + @forgotten.dumpling + @imandq + @ml.mecham - “flames flicker like fireflies in our eyes” @stephaniemariavalente - “third marriage” @thesoftword - “restless with becoming” @lorrainefaepoetry - “misty melancholy mornings” @stillchasingcrescendos - “sorrow is a sickness” @elenaspoetry - “children of ink”