In memory of my sister, Angela—
in awe of the courage you showed
living daily on the brink of (in)sanity.

Rumi
speaks my soul I just know it
though understanding is a stretch
It’s more a sense a knowing
the intensity of intermingled passions
tumbling fumbling over each other
sometimes beautiful other times bordering on
too intense for sane but
Reading him
I don’t care how it sounds or reads
just how it feels
The rare gift curse of unfiltered emotion
sometimes too bright too muddy
but to whom
to humans maybe but not Godde
this is the me I want to share but fear
Stops
me in my tracks whispering Angela
how close am I to that so far but
really how do I know
Always afraid the underside of intense is
insane
on the bridge between silence and words tumbling
I falter and decide to just
wait

—Starla J. King is a technical writer in Ashburn, Virginia. She is the youngest sister of Angela J. King, who died at age 39 after years of living voraciously with bipolar disorder.