We live here in the earth,

deep in soil, blood

red in clay and skin cresting

the sky,

we inhale.

We are young;

Face coated in oil

and litter,

fumes halo our head

from our haystack cigarettes;

And yet we bloom still, smile

ear to ear.

Grew an inch last year

despite being sick

for all of January;

And we knew there was

war and hate and peril

but hell.

We live here

in the earth

and we don’t have to

hear

anything.