Show Me A Worse Pain - Taylor Palmer

Show me a worse pain

Not a distant one

Show me a hurt

Staring back at me

Hovering reflection in pavement

Racing ahead

Looking over its shoulder

Seeing I follow

Show me a wound resting

At the edges of imagination

Show me attainable injuries

So I may ward off worse

Take shape in my mind

Proximal sufferings

Live there not in my skin

Show me her distress

One I cannot carry

Show me a torment not my own

I may steel myself against it

Or invite her in

An old friend

You’ve both changed

Talk about work and the weather and loss

Dinner table conversation

Show me damage and woe

I want to understand

Show me another’s aches

Ease my own

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Taylor Palmer is a writer and performer based in Vancouver, Canada, on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Watuth nations. Their work explores topics including decay, sexuality, and agency. They are the author of the forthcoming chapbook, "Pieces of Night."