In a small voice, she says: perhaps, if
the things I want are small enough,
and smooth enough, they will be forgotten
and not taken from me.
Small, like a small house. In this house
there is a small room. Inside the small room
there is a small dollhouse. Inside the dollhouse
is a small girl with no dolls. The girl who is a doll
has never heard of what a doll is. Instead
the small girl in the small dollhouse
has a small collection of small stones.
She keeps the stones in a tin for mints,
and they clatter around like hopes
in the midst of other coins,
each of the stones a name she hopes to keep.
Girl, like the kind of thing a girl tries to be.
Girl twice, even: first, to char the wood,
second, to burn the charcoal. Girl, which builds
up inside of her small chest until it misfortunes
into a spark from the world. Then girl all at once,
as it consumes her from head to toe in heat and mirage.
Girl as a catastrophe, something to befall her.
Girl slowly, as a secret, and then quickly,
a stolen secret, carried away from her to places
she has not begun to imagine.
NORA HIKARI (she/her) is a transgender poet and artist based in Philadelphia. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming at ANMLY, Palette Poetry, Diode, Always Crashing, and others. Her chapbook, Girl 2.0, is a Robin Becker Series winner, and is forthcoming at Seven Kitchens Press. She can be found at her website norahikari.com and contacted at norahikariwrites@gmail.com.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations begin One Version era
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations has entered the "One Version" era, marking the end of traditional ERP upgrades. Instead, customers will now receive mandatory, incremental updates on a monthly to quarterly basis. Microsoft has advocated for this transition, emphasizing long-term benefits for current D365FO customers and assuring Dynamics AX users that upgrading will eliminate the need for future large-scale upgrade projects. This approach aligns with Microsoft’s Office 365 upgrade philosophy.
The shift comes as D365FO experiences rapid growth and adoption, outpacing other ERP products in the Microsoft ecosystem. To ensure the new approach meets customer needs, Microsoft has engaged an independent consulting firm to gather feedback from…