The Grass that Grows in Sidewalks

""I am the reflection of Portland lately; I've not even resided here for a year but somehow my life mirrors the city- the outcasted beauty of Instagram photos and reel videos of addiction of babies, as well as the ones I love. The prices I pay through the dead-end, sustainable capitalistic jobs I coddle in the name of family. The littered streets from resulting from addiction and manic effort to clean the apartment every two weeks. The short lived gentrification of slums and the regression of the poor East forced by the manifestations of the rich West's destiny. The stealing and the saving of us all. The switchbacks of emotional hikes and the parallel walks bussing streets. Wondrous friends drunk driving by downtown versus influences taking the MAX guided by strangers. Forcing dissociation from long lines of cars by music to get to point A to point B. Seeing lost soles on the sidewalks which glimmer of a starry night and worrying about how worms will still die while squirming along rough cement while my garnished words and rung out emotions in precise moments guide me to home. Portland is the place where I learned a mother's life would end, and a home where I am having to learn from it rather than tossing ashes on ground and bad secrets in the trash. I'm trying harder [again]. This is the result: Grass beginning to grow in the pavement.""