Free Verse
Empathy Without Self-Erasure
Author’s Note These pieces were written for those who feel deeply and were never taught how to stay intact while doing so. Empathy is often praised without being explained. Many of us learned to feel early, thoroughly, and instinctively— but not how to remain inside ourselves while we did. What follows is not a guide to becoming less sensitive. It is an invitation to become more embodied. Throughout this series, I name the difference between empathy and enmeshment—not to judge past ways of coping, but to offer language for a line many of us were never shown. Awareness does not require responsibility. Presence does not require self-erasure. If, while reading, you notice your body tighten, rush, or brace—pause. That is information, not failure. Let these words meet you at your pace. Let what resonates stay. Let the rest pass through. This work is meant to support connection that is mutual, care that is clean, and compassion that does not cost you yourself. You were never meant to carry what is not yours. You were meant to feel—and still belong to your body. — Flower InBloom 🌿
By Flower InBloomabout 14 hours ago in Poets
KEEPING THE DOOR OPEN
Author’s Note The door matters because creativity does not force its way in. It arrives when something in us is willing. Keeping the door open is not about producing more or proving anything. It is about choosing presence over protection, curiosity over control. It is a practice of staying available to what wants to be known, felt, or expressed. There were seasons when closing the door felt safer. And seasons when forgetting it existed cost me more. This manifesto is not a demand—it is an invitation. A reminder that imagination is one of the ways we remain in relationship with ourselves. The door is still here. So am I. — Flower InBloom
By Flower InBloomabout 15 hours ago in Poets
