blistered

by Kelly Esparza

Image credit: Max Muselmann on Unsplash

you might think I’m a bit stubborn, so what if I am? but you have to understand the universe put my body through the wringer. I know what it feels like to be sucked into a black hole, try my best to dig myself out—no, I didn’t dig my own grave here—but it’s this grief that’s held me prisoner for far too long. I am a blister that will latch on to skin and burn and sting and give a rebel cry. I know what it is to feel pain from the inside out, to feel like a burning bit of plasma, a star, that blazes to the outside. if you were to live a single day or maybe even an hour or two in my shoes, you’d see, hear, feel my pain that’s chronic in the nightmares my body lives through every second. my pain is as stubborn as my will, a blister. a blister that makes me bleed sometimes, reminds me that I’m carrying Emotion as a badge of honor, and maybe that’s a gift in disguise.

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Kelly Esparza

Kelly Esparza (she/her) is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer and freelance editor who holds BAs in English and Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. She is the editor-in-chief of FLARE Magazine, a literary journal that showcases literature and art about chronic illnesses, disabilities, and mental health, created by those who experience these. Her poetry chapbook, A Spoonie’s Guide to Self-Acceptance, about what it’s like living with lupus is out now with Bottlecap Press, and her writing has appeared in or is forthcoming in Micromance Mag, Prosetrics, Genrepunk Mag, Ink In Thirds, and others. Find out more on her website: kellyesparza.com, and connect with her on Twitter: @Kelly_Esparza7, Instagram/Threads: @kelwritesbooks2, and Bluesky: @kellyesparza.bsky.social.