Someone told me, “You write from the heart, that's why everything you write is special”

And I thought, thank god
my heart walks with bandaged calves
that it knows footprints from flesh
with the same bloody dressing.
Thank god it is a little broken
for light to filter through the cracks,
the way sunbeams dapple through blinds:
just enough to warm unheld skin,
just enough to tell darkness,
You can pull the curtains wide
open whenever you wish.
I am here
to dance with you.

This piece was first published in Meari Mag on December 23, 2024.

In Poetry

Gretchen Filart

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.