February 2024 Flash Lit 1 (Last Go) - Enter

Enter at Your Own Risk

There was no sign,

but we could not yet read anyway.

Somehow, though, we knew

enough to ball our fists,

screech at the light, the cold.

We did not ask to be here.

But we found sunshine,

the rough rasp of kitten tongues,

the murmurs and melodies

of the ocean,

the delicate and destroying

touch of a hand.

We did not, at first,

choose life, life that shatters

us and breaks us open,

but we can see stars

and think it’s worth

the risk to keep going.