Some things are simple, like kindness.
Like looking at instead of looking away,
standing as witness; finding ways to return
some grace in the harshness of the world.
You try to remind yourself you are not only
the things (you imagine) you lack. How else
could you honor the roster of unnamed
acts that made it possible for you to hold
your place in this moment? Yet you know
there are things you still need to deflect,
rephrase, insist on. Remember you
can rewrite the narrative, insist on your
truth. Walk into the room because it’s
true— you worked hard, you own it too.
*
Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.
