We are flowers blooming in 8-bit.
Each pixel concentrated on
exploding into light and color--
so small that no one sees, even if
they're looking for it.

They tell us to close our eyes.
It is not our spectacle to behold.

We close like clams
and open up pearl-less
just to let the water rush in.
We choke on the salt and hope we
swallow our sins.

They teach us to write backwards
so that no one knows our secrets.

We ache for the night but we
do not know why.
The sun shrinks back
when we bloom because it is
terrified of the beauty of becoming.

They tell us being takes brains.
*We say courage.