Wildflowers used to breathe our names
Ragweed choked our voices
Phrases became benign
Strangled our entwine
Mortification pressed us apart
Devoured us
Denied us
Defined us
Crimson laughter’s blaze
Raucous and rowdy
We wept
Wildflowers stopped breathing our names
We hid in their taunts
We hid in their ridicule
We hid in their disdain
Wildflowers used to breathe our names
Cynde Puckett-Valenti 