Note from Dr. Ming
On the Map of Openings
It sounds a little dirty, doesn’t it?
But that’s not a mistake. That’s the truth of it:
Every wound is an opening.
Every shift, every rage, every softness—we don’t just write them. We walk through them.
This isn’t a timeline.
This isn’t a table of contents.
It’s a map made of feeling, not sequence.
A way in—wherever you are, however you’re doing.
The poems here live in portals—not genres or themes, but emotional spaces.
Stillness. Survival. Softness. Resistance.
And because healing isn’t tidy, some poems live in more than one place.
Because people do too.
You’re not meant to follow this map in order.
You’re meant to start where it calls to you.
Follow the ache.
Follow the laughter.
Follow what stirs or steadies you.
Every opening on this map is a truth.
None of them are wrong.
Enter however you need to.