I am a Raven Soaring Over an Ashen Forest

I am from orange blossoms and sun-soaked sand under bare feet.
From sea water, and salty gales whipping through unkept hair.
I am the redolence of wilted angel’s trumpets during an arid summer,
and warm nights filled with coyote’s songs and the buzzing of crickets.
I am from the mountain tops overlooking a depleted lake,
Aberrant storm clouds promising petrichor from the sunbaked chaparral.
I am cactus thorns in little big toes,
Breaking through callous, flesh and nail,
pulled out by gentle hands and false reassurances.
I am from a fantasist with a manipulative tongue,
and a woman full of light and innocence, who has never experienced what it’s like to shine without repression at the hands of others.
I am from baked yams and bitter green tea,
a bowl of buttery popcorn made in a steel heirloom pot,
a pint of ice cream all to myself on a Wednesday night.
I am from chlorine and sunburnt skin,
foggy goggles and sore shoulders.
An overtaxed body, damaged by a coach’s selfish pride.
Diving into frigid waters for gleaming medals which hung on my bedroom doorknob, offering me a false sense of protection from antagonistic parents.
I am the flames rolling over a hillside, Indiscriminately destroying everything in its wake.
Calamity spurred by the actions of others.
I am the chimney of a house ablaze. Resolute, unyielding; despite the flames devouring the surrounding timber.
I am heady smoke polluting the air, and embers mistaken for an unearthly snowfall; a beautiful auspice of capricious loss.
I am pale blooms of sweet alyssum bursting from once-scorched earth; unwavering, hardy, even in the most uninhabitable conditions. Holding onto the hope of a fruitful spring.
I am from blows of tongue and fist carried out by cruel parents, faded bruises and lingering words which weigh down my far too-heavy heart.
I am from intimate caresses by the hands of a despicable and disturbed man, laid upon me when I still sat in the scratchy pink and black booster seat in the back of my mom’s SUV.
I am raw angry skin, futilely scrubbed in attempt to cleanse the sense of violation from soul, and the memories of having my innocence exploited from my mind.
I am a raven soaring above the ashen forest, with unpolluted air rippling through my feathers, dusting the ash from my body.
I am the sunrise proceeding an eternity of starless night, my unique colors cascading across a twilit sky.
I am my heart, mended by the love of my friends and the family I designed.
I am the freedom of dancing in a crowd of people you will never see again.
Of singing in the shower, and falling in love for the first time.