wash_it_all_away ovenbird As a child she lived in addiction’s shadow, its darkness staining the walls, its darting shape always catching in her peripheral vision. It was the ugly secret that she was forced to carry, its body a belt that became a whip, its voice a shameful whisper. She felt peace in the presence of water, so that’s where she ran, down to the river with its mouth full of sewage. There was no ocean with clean salt air, no crystal lake or glacial stream, just a filthy tributary carrying human waste away, away, away. It was soothing, somehow, watching the ships and watching the shit just float down the river and disappear. If only life were as simple. If only she could dump her fear into the water and let it drift, purge everything dirty inside herself and let it go, give every humiliation to the water’s cold, dissolving force until she was empty, and clear, and pure, and gone. 260203 what's it to you? who go blather from