By Nicole Miyashiro
Lose people/ who were never
there, lose/ the lies, illusions,
truth-fearing/ friends?/ lose the one
you don’t need/ to be
anymore/ lose/ the voice
distorting/ what to believe,
believe/ your loss/ the you, lost
in who others/ want
you/ to be, be without
her to be/ be free
Nicole Miyashiro is a bi and married mama living in central Pennsylvania, US. Her work appears in CALYX, The Hudson Review, Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse (Lost Horse Press), and elsewhere.
Image paired with artwork by Ginn Arias Bello – also found here.