room temperature

Poetry

Jan 15

Written By Joyce Chen

Why do I say things in increments?

I am “a little hungry”, “a little tired”,

like the intensity of my emotions isn’t something I want to expose to the world.

“A bit cold”, “a bit stressed”

Why am I not very cold or very stressed?

I’m always just okay

Not good, not great, but not bad

Always unsure

I want to be pliable, adjustable, amorphous to those around me,

so that I’m never unpleasant to be around.

Maybe never exciting to be around but at least not unpleasant

Homeostatic, never at the extremes

Just right, or at least that’s what I hope

But never perfect

Hi! My name is Joyce, and I’m a writer from Southern California. I first started writing fiction

when I was young as a form of escapism. Now, I’m interested in writing personal essays about

identity and expressing emotions through prose poetry. I enjoy writing as a pastime, and I’m

grateful for the opportunity to work on Humankind Zine with amazing writers and artists.

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