the seven sacred ways of healing

JAYE SIMPSON

/let it out/ they tear through my rawing throat, saliva & blood bubbling out wild prairie fire cacophony. /don’t ask why/

/let it out/ her hand presses deep into my chest, pinpointed compression my chest billows a fine aerial orchestra of ancestral trauma.

/tell them what they did/

/let it out/ my head thrown back screams ripping out of my throat faster than i can breathe, my eyes strained, they hemorrhage red spreads across my sclera.

/you will never get to ask why/

/let it out/ i cough blood & retch, i am told i am letting go of intergenerational trauma this way: by letting go of pain kept in my body. /tell them what they did/

/let it out/ i can no longer lift my arms, Zhigaag takes my place punching the bag, our screams synchronizing, letting go breaks everything i thought i knew about healing.

/this will follow them/

/let it out/ final screams dying with vocal fry

& tears tinged red, i collapse ribbon skirt pooling around my crumpled form hands clawing at chest

Zhigaag’s screams billow out now. /they will know what it meant/