By: Jetta Whitehurst
My memories burn off my skin, shaping the configurations of my body.
Every rise of my arms is a moment embodied.
The swivel of my hips is the shutting of my drawers when my hands are full and heavy.
The flicks of my feet at every leap are an escape from who I once was, a leap into who I am now,
at this very second.
Like the walls of my home, who have seen it all, my body is made of scars of survival.
I am pushing out the fumes of repressed but present anger at the family dinner table.
I am exuding the joy, the passion, the peace, the comfort of a family’s embrace at the door.
It all comes together like the bundle of a home as I burn.
Burn with every twirl,
Burn with every look into your eyes,
Crumbling in pieces at your gaze to be built up again.
Jetta Whitehurst is a recent graduate from Kennesaw State University with a double major of Journalism and Theatre. She currently works as Visual Arts Instructor at Woodstock Arts and as a member of RepTour, Woodstock Arts’ Repertory Touring Troupe focusing on education and literature through the performing arts. She can often be found hiking, traveling, writing poetry, and hanging out with her little brother.