Can I Stay? - Celeste Jones

I need to find a field of flowers

and lay in it

until the ache of my bones

dissolves into a cool summer wind.

I need the seasons’ rain

to wash away what is burnt,

until the smooth gray-blue

beneath my eyes

is carried down to the riverbed.

I need my body to know the lakes

like it knows an Epsom salt bath—

to soak until I am familiar again

with my skin,

with my body's kind, soft shape.

I need the earth to cradle me

in duvets full of moss,

sea lavender, and mountain mint.

Then, maybe, I will be ready

to rejoin our restless world.

Celeste Jones is a multimedia artist and writer based in Fresno, CA. Originally from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Celeste grew up surrounded by pine trees and rural landscapes. Her work often reflects the complexities of a queer identity shaped by life in these spaces.