POEM A DAY – July 16

Alongside the tenor of shame
(quote from Itinerant Cat Lady, Lynette Adams, July 12, Vocales and Itinerary Changes, Substack)

this tenor of shame shapeshifts 
into a tangible obelisk beside me

like a tentative bully: I think it
wants to be my friend after

it rages. we have common grounding
in our relentlessness, our resilience

for survival. neither of us wants to die.
we’re both exhausted but this dense

haunting smoke, thickened with loss
with skin, with the high-pitch wailing

arias of hearts breaking, lungs 
shrinking, the smoke is what 

brings us together. I offer space
alongside this tenor of shame for

grace. it is not my home burning
my collections, my food, my family.

‘not my’ is the continent of the shame
but we share the trees, the sky
the air. I can mourn from thousands 
of miles away, compass-ed by grace.

the tenor of shame shapeshifts from 
obelisk to lighthouse.