A different kind of soil.

If you’d like to hear how the pacing of these words flows in my body, enjoy the audio included above.

---

you and I both cultivate

use our voices

and create

.

you and I both speak what’s true

but we’ve grown up

with more than one or two

.

differences in our soil

planted in different ground

you savored clear skies

with sunshine all around

.

you haven’t tasted the darkness

or the scarcest desert dew

you can’t understand my blossoms

what you mistake for blissful blooms

.

These are survival scars

ones I never asked to grow

and while they now abound

their start was deathly and slow

.

and so I sit and smile

pretending I’m just fine

when really, your root system

makes me feel the weight of mine

Heather starting to bloom in the highlands of Scotland, July 2025.