open wounds, let me in,

i am the words that wrap
around your incisions, closing
them up so insects and other pests
don’t fuck with you in this raw phase.
i am the words that suck out
all the pus, infecting you from past
traumas and misunderstood
mamas wanting to school you
on the realities, the uteralities
of life, forgetting—
you gotta live it

and daddies so deep in these
gaping white holes,
tunneling,
sinking—

i am the words that you think in,
that gets down in your open flesh,
and blows when it’s stinging—            and blows and blows

i am the words that know

when to peel back
after we done sat a few days,
or else that new layer you grew
can’t crust up, can’t recover
that stolen space.

Asia Nichols is a nomadic writer of many realms. Her debut poem, “Dwelling,” featured in Lungs Project, was adapted into an animated poetry film and screened at the 2022 Helios Sun Poetry Film Festival. She has a poem forthcoming in Obsidian Lit and is a semifinalist at the 2023 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Other works have received grants and fellowships from SFFILM and the Speculative Literature Foundation. Currently pet-sitting in Central Mexico, she’s developing her first feature film—a haunting folktale driven by poetry and music.