2024/Haley -

All my invisible strings were tangled

When I moved states

Countries

Continents

Moving in toddlerhood,

My strings twisted and tangled

From South Carolina to Virginia.

Some cut,

Others traded,

Switching out Fruit Loops on dental floss for funnel cake and braided pigtails.

Moving in elementary school,

My strings seemed to disappear

From Virginia to Japan.

Stranded overseas,

My line of bendy pipe cleaners and Fruit by the Foot was hastily linked to soba noodles.

Growing strings connected state to state

And country to country.

Moving in middle school,

My strings bounced back with celerity.

Back to Virginia,

Some returned to their original orientation,

Some got caught on my past.

And once again my strings linked anew

Soba to straw wrappers,

Daiso yarn to event wristbands.

Moving in high school,

My strings were lead back to nostalgia

Returning to Japan with new perspective,

Acclimating to constant change,

My strings strengthened.

Now I tied my strings with care

To plane tickets and PET bottle wrappers.

A mosaic of my circumstances,

Reaching around the world,

Touching every corner of my past and my present,

My strings tie my life together like a tapestry,

Woven with emotion and experience.