For me, it was the Chapstick.  That’s all I wanted, rummaging there in my purse.  Oh, that purse… “I need a new one,” I’d said to The Mister months ago

Quiet, kind, the man with the healing hands said, “I’ve always thought that was a component of it for you.” Huh. Really?  Stress turned physical, tightening muscles, pulling bones, causing

Like a coal, glowing, it rests just there in my chest. Days later, I feel its warmth whenever my thoughts go back… From far-flung states, they’d come. From a far-off

I see you.  I know you because I’ve been in that place.  I know that weight, that thing that’s pressing in, pulling you down – you know, that thing you never