Paxton Grey
it is not possible to move at light speed unless you are the light. this is known. what is less considered: the light swallows what makes the dark whole. even starlight penetrates the night with its glare. true darkness is confined to cupboards, closets, and the inside of lungs. // it is not possible for us to stop moving through time. “stillness” is a myth like a flat sea. // and maybe i list tragedies because it is natural to name and list the particles that comprise you. the body is a timeline arranging and dispensing a heart’s history. layers upon layers. // some days, i am still a child. this is not possible, but it is true. wide-eyed, scared, looking to create a god. i am a child still studying: what does it mean to age? only to march through time until the flesh sags. // some days, i am old, fragile, and the sunlight makes me cry. the light swallows what makes the dark whole, and i am a fractured being who cradles the darkness inside. // the grass grown photosynthetic smears green, and i remember the big bang. the trauma that built us. i count the photons emitted.
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Paxton Grey (he/they) is a non-binary, neurodivergent software developer living in Virginia. His work has been published in Sundog Lit, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Kissing Dynamite, Empty Mirror, and elsewhere. They can be found on twitter @PaxWrites.