Internal Weather (2025)

There’s a bruise behind my ribs

No one gave me.

A soft purple secret

Pressed into the sponge of bones.

I carry it quiet

Like a pocket of thunder-

Swelling when I laugh,

Aching when I try to sleep.

I trace it with my shaky fingertips,

Naming it nothing,

So it may keep growing-

A small hidden storm

That only I hear

Rattling constantly, inside my chest.

M.H. John