Her life is a million strands of fuzz
that I keep trying to read
like a book
hoping it will tell me straightforward things
like is she resilient enough
am I a good mom
and what about gluten for god’s sake
but I know that her real story
is not made of material as thin as words
it is its own universe playing out on the stage
of her heart and mine
and I try to trust the unbearable invisibility of it all
but when she tells me
mama, my spirit animal is a unicorn
I immediately tattoo
this six-word memoir
onto the skin of my mind
as glorious proof
that she is going to be
just fine.