If beauty was mere beauty,
eyes are not meant to see,
lips not for saying.
If beauty was only made for one,
for the greatest,
then let not anyone a beholder of it.
If all things beautiful
were measured by eyes,
by man,
by standards,
then beauty is not beauty at all but a synonym of ugly.
Gretchen is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and essayist from the Philippines, where she embraces life while managing bipolar disorder and ADHD. Her confessional pieces unpack the complexities of grief, healing, motherhood, love, and intersections, garnering recognition from the Greg Grummer Poetry Contest and Navigator's Travel Writing Competition.