Wednesday, June 24, 2026

What I Kept, An Ode to Empathy by Chris Biscuiti

 

Gabby K - Monstera Production

An Ode to Empathy


I didn’t choose a word

by looking ahead.

I found it

by noticing

what stayed

when everything else

fell away.


It showed up

in hospital lights

and quiet kitchens,

in long afternoons

that asked too much,

in nights where writing

was the only place

my breath could land.


It wasn’t loud.

It didn’t trend.

It didn’t promise growth

or ease.


It asked me

to stay.

To listen

when I wanted answers.

To soften

when the world hardened.

To keep showing up

for a child who taught me

that presence

is its own language.


I wrote through the swings—

the days that lifted,

the days that bent me,

the days that did both

before noon.


I wrote to make room for her—

sweet, earned, earnest, Empathy

for my family,

for myself,

for anyone reading

who needed proof

that care can coexist

with exhaustion,

that love doesn’t disappear

just because it’s heavy.


If there’s anything

worth marking,

it’s this:

I didn’t numb.

I didn’t rush past.

I didn’t turn away.


I stayed curious.

I stayed kind.

I stayed human

on the page.


And her quiet presence—

quixotic as it is—

is what carried me

through the year.


© Chris Biscuiti



Chris Biscuiti

Chris Biscuiti is a poet, caregiver, and Dad to his son Bray Bray. Chris' poem The Believer won the 2025 BREW Poetry Project Community Poem of the Year, and his poem The Hours was published in FLARE Magazine, Issue 4. Connect with Chris on Substack  https://chrisbwrites.substack.com 

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What I Kept, An Ode to Empathy by Chris Biscuiti

  Gabby K -  Monstera Production An Ode to Empathy I didn’t choose a word by looking ahead. I found it by noticing what stayed when everyth...