I lean heavily on them
My dominant traits
A desire to color inside the lines
Follow the rules
Play it safe
They serve me well
Except when they don’t
So I am strengthening others
Going outside the boundaries
Breaking the rules
Taking risks
Gonna have an ambidextrous spirit
There are ever so many phrases in the world today
To describe this one’s pace o’er another’s
But a snail doesn’t think of her pace as slow
Unless compared to that of her brother’s
A “baby step” to a baby might feel ten feet long
I am sick of it being used as derogatory
A being’s pace is simply that, unique to that one
Phrases to describe them, simply inflammatory
“Allow me to speak candidly,” she said with earnestness to no one in particular before finding herself poised halfway between the kitchen and the veranda staring out the window.
And just like that, the realization that had prompted the remark in the first place drifted out of her consciousness and on to wherever such realizations go when unattended.
And so it was that she sat down once again to a cup of camomile tea and a romance novel to while away a long day’s afternoon.
Broaden my horizons
Been looking for the same old things so long
From the views of this self-made prison I call my life
If I close my eyes and hold your hand
Can we leap into a whole new world
I want to stretch to see new sights
My heart is pounding, my body, so alive
I’m ready – let’s jump – and see where we land
A tiny world of experience
A blink of the eye
A split-second connection
Like breath, but different
Connects me to my innerscape
Reinforces my sense of self
In the often-overwhelm
Of being in the world
When the shock wears off
No more necessary actions to take
Arrangements made and fulfilled
Relatives come and gone
Friends no longer call
Even cards have been sent
“The family of — thanks you
For your expression of sympathy
The last casserole dish’s been returned
Back into life again
Then the real pain seeps through
That’s the time for a card or call
A lifeline through the bitter woe
A reminder that someone
Else remembers your loss
And cares
You kissed the scars
The carvings he made
On the inside of my thighs
Ugly remnants of his violence
And just like that
I felt the wound heal
Red, raw angry skin
Became baby-smooth again
“I’ve forgotten how to be in my own body,” she said
“I feel like I have woken up in a foreign land”
I took her by the hand
Led her down the the sea
“Sit down and let the waves remind you,” I said
We lay back, and with closed eyes
Became one with the ocean
The undulation, the caress and push-pull
We let ourselves be swallowed
And we became mermaids again
Bodies arching, diving
Arms moving through the water
Embracing the flow of the tide
She started crying tears of deeply relieved joy
And so then did I, to see her find home again
Our salt tears mixed with the salt of the sea
And when we finally returned to the shore and found our legs again
We took the ocean with us in the sway of our hips
And the pulse of our hearts
Forlorn once was I
No hope was in sight
I’d fought hard to live
But felt I’d lost the fight
Were it not for my cats
Wouldn’t’ve made it through
How sad that’ve been
For I’d never’ve met you
Mightn’t I just lay down now
I’m so tired
Passed bone-weary last year
Let me just go to sleep
And never waken
Wish my beloveds a sweet farewell
There’s never been a moment of peace
I think I’ve earned some at this point
Maybe this has all been a random experiment
And my cell, never one that was expected to live
Maybe I beat the odds having come this far anyway
Maybe the Universe will sigh a sigh of relief when I let go
Maybe
Beyond the Skinny Branches 