Two poems for M

or, reclaiming the sacred

Photo by Josh Eckstein

holy

so often they would say to me,
"try harder" but, baby
i was always trying my hardest
sometimes it worked and
sometimes it didn't
but there was no such thing
as laziness
within me
everything wanted
to do well, to be good
skillful and pure
accomplished and wise
and every failure
felt like sin
so when you said to me
angry on my behalf—
"you are doing the
damn well best you can"
the "damn" in that sentence
felt nothing short
of holy

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this mile

i see you
doing the damn well
best you can
eking out a living
and a life
in the rocky soil
you’re given
don’t listen
to the backseat
drivers
who say
“you should just
you should just
have you tried?”
goddammit
have they tried
walking this mile
in these shoes?
they should just

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Both poems from my collection, Open Things

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