thanks for asking

my favorite thing about this little collection is that some poems are from back in 2019, some were written as near as last month, and everywhere in between. they formed in hotel rooms, planes, the back of uber rides  — essentially, any place that wasn’t my room. the notes app on my phone for this project dates back to just over 4 years ago. 

they come from a version of me that was learning a lot, moving a little too fast, and falling a little too hard. she was reckless and brave in a way that i had never felt before. it was scary and exhilarating. 

after covid shut the world down, i retreated back into myself. i got put on antidepressants. i forgot how to write. i didn’t know if i ever would again. 

this book encompasses so much of what i clung to these last few years, things i was too scared to say out loud. things i finally had to let go of in order to grow and heal. 

there’s a quote by david foster wallace: “everything i’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it.”

that’s the heart of ‘thanks for asking’.