Just One Thing with T. De Los Reyes

T. De Los Reyes’ April issue poem “Balloon” may have invented a new genre: the triumphant domestic. Here she shares just one thing about the piece:

“I started living on my own at the cusp of the pandemic. I remember the day the lockdowns started—it was my birthday. I was thirty-four and finally had my own place. About damn time, I thought. And then found myself alone for the next two years. When I wrote this poem, I was thinking about what it all meant—that space you occupy and gather around yourself, the permissions you allow, the limits you test. My first night, I didn’t even have a bed yet. I was scared shitless at having started a new chapter of my life, wondering if I made a wrong decision. I was on the floor, and I breathed it all in—a dramatic moment—and suddenly I was coughing because of all the dust. Then I was laughing. And crying. I think it was when I knew I was going to be okay. I was home.”