Presence.

I come into this world as I am.

In the dream, the love I mine is never enough. A woman I love attaches my name to disaster. To ugly things that crawl and poison her. For years I tell her the spelling of my name, but her language has no space for me. The woman I love believes that only one of us can survive, if the world is just. She believes I’ve stolen from her since birth. She believes the two of us are trapped in an underwater cave, and only my drowning will save her.

I come into this world as I am.

In the dream, I question nothing. My photographable life. My diamond family. Health and wealth pouring from all pores. Success is easy. I look at other people’s struggles with mild pity and puzzlement.

I come into this world as I am, whole and hungry, generous and grasping. I make what fits the shape of my hands.