the architecture of somatic unlearning

We hold space between the fibers of muscle, let in a gentle & riotous air
The changes, aerenchyma of growth and expansiveness, be the forest be the wide plains

Healing regions of time in the ley lines of the body 
We shift story from declivity, energetics rush, release 
The waters of experience washing over our skins of yesterday 

Our hips fire, smooth cinders & winter bark  
A howl escapes & we move in a music, blended by myriad cultures, such blood in the belly 

We expand, a reign of justice, a reign of wielding our swords to protect one another’s exposed breast, a reign of shielding each other, a reign that will conquer such tumult of war

We expand and move in, guided by our own sense of time, our own spaces that hold what we know of time, gliding in time, but what of time really, being a false construct? 

Our rings will a purpose, our will of concentric circles, our psoas, holding within the deep tissue in the fascia & camber, a knowing 

We sweat & shake, we move out pockets of grief, 
We let in a gentle & riotous air

MELISSA ELEFTHERION

Melissa Eleftherion is the author of three poetry collections and twelve chapbooks, including gutter rainbows (Querencia Press, 2024). Born and raised in Brooklyn, Melissa lives in Northern California, where she manages a branch library, curates the LOBA Reading Series, and serves as Poet Laureate Emerita.