This Fear Called Myself by Chad W. Lutz

CW: Suicide

I tried to kill myself

three years ago

but none of that

matters anymore

the binge eating

the arm cutting

the bad talking

the cardinals in

the trees sing

my triumphs

for the whole

world to hear

you don’t have

to look back

until next year

the birds tweet

a sound moving

farther & farther away

on a new tepid wind

a trust in old processes

to finally calm

this fear

called myself

---

Chad W. Lutz is a speedy, non-binary writer born in Akron, Ohio. They graduated from Mills College in Oakland, California, with their MFA in Creative Writing in 2018. Their first book, For the Time Being, is available through J. New Books.