Today & Prior

It is as an old photograph,

fading with every second

that ticks by.

It is the bone broken at age four

fused back together 

by sheer vigor, and youth.

It is the discrete licks of cookie dough

off of the spoon

taken when backs were turned.

It is the nostalgia 

enveloping the scared girl at sleep-away camp.

It is the anxiety arising 

over a mother's broken vase.

It is all the atoms

making up my agile body.

It is every element of my being,

today and prior,

every misplaced footing

and every step back up.

It is my past,

and it makes me

flawless.