we’re all particles

BY PAULA ETHANS

drifting through this universe

just different variations of 

space

and

t  e  n  s  i  o  n 

yet you mock me
as i
un
   ra
         vel
down the stairs
down my veins

like it isn’t just another way
to lay down
like it isn’t what you’ve been asking for
a neck under your boot
heat you can sniff
fear you can touch

so go ahead
pluck me
steal all my favourite parts
scatter them in the mud
let the dogs
stuff themselves
on my surrender

don’t you know
we’re all just energy
and
energy
never dies.

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PAULA ETHANS is a writer, poet, and human rights lawyer from Canada. Her poems have been published in Emerge Literary Journal, nymphs publications, Bareknuckle Poet, Rise, and Headline Poetry. She most recently won the 2019 Trans-Europe Expression Slam finals in Manchester, UK. @PaulaEthans.