How is it that I can quickly say “I’m at capacity” in some cases and say “let me know what you need” at my next notification? The answer, as messy as this is, is that at some level, we all have a knack to discern the ways in which messages we need to respond to and how we will choose to respond. The levels of discernment required to have compassionate boundaries is one that I’m still exploring, and don’t possess a full answer yet.

I weep and I scream because I have this feeling that she might not want to fight for us anymore. I do not blame her. How many times have Black women shown up for everyone else only to not get the same veneration in return? How are we, Black, Indigenous, POC folks complicit in this? How will those of us who are able to rally now rally forth in ways that sustain us?

When the ghosts have rejoined the land of the living again. When dams are broken and the waters can flow again. As if the water does not have the wisdom to cleanse and create. But then again, some of us end up drowning. Drowning in the expectations of these ghosts, that they can push and pull as they please like the tides of the sea, without actually learning how to swim.