After the flood

Before the 

Cleanup and

Declarations of 

Emergency, allow me please, to

Feel this moment of

Grief, this aching sense of despair and 

Heartbreak

Intertwined with the generosity of dear friends; the 

Juxtaposition of

Knowing that this is survivable while feeling that this 

Loss will be different, will forever alter 

Me, for better or worse or 

Neither.

Once, I choose this place instead of a

Person; poured love and tears into the walls until it became a refuge for 

Queer joy, until it became the place from which to begin and the place which we 

Returned to—this unexpected conclusion, this

Safe haven, this accidental experiment gone 

Terribly right—until an 

“Unprecedented” winter delivered multiple

Versions of flowing

Water, through the ground, above the ground, out of the meadows, into my home. 

Xoxo, nothing lasts forever as 

You learn and relearn, evolving into a 

Zealot for climate chaos preparedness