Abyss by Jamie Fiano

You do not have my consent to label me 

I have not so much as muttered the words required for you to put me in the boxes which shape your reality. 

If you seek clarity about my identity,

you may ask me an open-ended question. 

You may invite me into conversation where you will expose your mental limits, and I will expose mine. 

I will hope for the lines of my limits to intersect with the lines of yours, 

that we might co-create escape routes to different dimensions

and we will dance and play in dialogue and nuance.

If you understand me, you have my permission to explore 

If you complicate me (and I hope you do), then I will take your hand and lead you

to the abyss of my unknowingness. 

It is there from which I gather my wisdom. 

It is there I will share moments of wondering with you. 

In those moments, I hope we can both learn there are no labels we can give without connotations, 

no categorizations we can substantiate, no myths we can herald as truth over one another. 

There are only the unique spells our words weave amongst smiles, enthusiastic head nods, piercing eyes, and blushing cheeks. 

You do not have my consent to label me. 

But, if you ask me how I identify, I will show you everything I do not know. 

Perhaps, from within the infinite unknowing, we can gather our wisdom together.