We trim the tree of its evergreen and dance with moons between our palms. We cloak our summer freckles in wolf skin, slip on our rabbit feet, speak in Morse code to the snow. We plant soft magic in ordinary hours, bleed out over silver lawns. Bruised knees, raspberry mouths, violet bellies— every bloom’s a shadow after midnight. Every woman behind glass is an animal waiting at the shore of attempt between seasons’ breaths. We lie down in the hollow of the darkest night, where sleep-leaden thoughts can constrict and sprawl. We are scars softened by rain. We are nearly dead, but we have each other. Together is a beautiful place to spend the long way back.

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

@angelealowes - “together is a beautiful place to be” @imandq + @ml.mecham + @laur_enough - “soft magic in ordinary hours” @jessaure.poetry - “hollow of the darkest night” @tangledflxwers - “I bled out in the snow after you left” + “we are nearly dead anyway” @amykaypoetry - “what we do with the darkness” @elenaspoetry - “woman behind glass” @loisofthehearth - “the long way back to you smells like rain” @cozyinkpress - “between seasons’ breath” @lorrainefaepoetry - “waiting at the shore” @wildgreensmag - November Daily Words - “attempt” @kaytpoems - “somewhere for sleep-leaden thoughts” @stillchasingcrescendos - “scars softened by rain” @behindherteeth - “bruised knees and raspberry mouth”