I spent my whole life
trying to be like stone
when I was always
meant to be like water.

Nothing stays unchanged in water;
it reshapes everything it holds,
even stones give way
beneath enough patience,
reminding me that softness
can still transform the world.

Water doesn't ask
where it can go—
it finds the slightest opening
and makes its way through,
not because it's more powerful,
but because it refuses
to stop becoming.

Water doesn't have to harden
to surge with force.
It can be still
without being stagnant.
And yet, it remains water.

I was not made
to weather the world.
I was made to move through it.

Jade Erickson is a poet and writer from Wisconsin's Fox Valley. Her work explores grief, resilience, identity, and the quiet complexities of being human. She is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and a contributor and volunteer with FSM Journal for the Arts. Her debut chapbook, Coffee With Grief, was published in 2026.