Dumplings, Grease, & Gossip

"When do you write?"

I write in the in-between,
in the leftovers of the day,
in the hush between noise,
in the soft rituals of being alive

I write while I dip a soggy store bought dumpling
into store-bought sauce,
too tired to care,
too full of thoughts not to

I wrote as I part my cousin's hair,
fingers slick with grease and memory,
talk circles around old gossip,
the kind that makes us laugh like we're kids again

I write a 5am,
face bent to cold water,
half-dreaming, half awake,
still stitched to the dark,
still catching the lines before they float away.

The words don't ask for time,
only that I listen when it comes