Under Plath’s bell jar

How to break free

from this crude and unforgivable living,

Under Plath’s bell jar?

How to take part

of this apple cider coloured painting

of a fading sky?

How so! to breathe in

fresh coffee and laundry

and be touched

by the gentle presence

of a life unseen, by the bare eye?

How then

to be aware of awareness

and drunk in content warmth

of a sun that awakens

the grey concrete jungle

into land of light?

Being alive takes more than a beating and well functioning heart.

— Alana Marroquim, Feb. 2023