Today & Prior
It is as an old photograph,
fading with every second
that ticks by.
It is the bone broken at age four
fused back together
by sheer vigor, and youth.
It is the discrete licks of cookie dough
off of the spoon
taken when backs were turned.
It is the nostalgia
enveloping the scared girl at sleep-away camp.
It is the anxiety arising
over a mother's broken vase.
It is all the atoms
making up my agile body.
It is every element of my being,
today and prior,
every misplaced footing
and every step back up.
It is my past,
and it makes me
flawless.