5 Texts Equal?, YCA Poetry Challenge, Day 29 of 30

Today is April 29. I *should* have been writing one poem per day for the past 29 days. That's because I accepted the Young Chicago Author's challenge to write one poem a day for 30 days. I intended to and, to some degree, it happened. Well, at least I wrote something every day for 29 days. Some of those things were poems and some of those poems made it to live status on The Tangled Thread.

There are a couple things that happen when you take on a writing challenge. One of them is real life. This is not an excuse. It’s real.

In the last 29 days, I have been reorganizing my life. Sometimes in energetic ways, sometimes by prioritizing me and sometimes by moving furniture. Literally. And in that space, I have been held in sacred space by some people and called out on my own shit by others. Both were healing. And in that calling out, more than one person pointed out that I have a bad habit of biting off more than I can chew.

Truth.

Sometimes other things win over logical organization. Actually, this happens often. And among the things that win is a desire to be a better version of myself. So, I sign up for classes that I may not have time for, I take on projects that excite me even when I have to put those projects in a que and I write. I write all the time.

Sometimes I write to get things out of my head. Sometimes I write to understand myself better. Sometimes I write because it was assigned to me. Sometimes I write because a project excites me. Sometimes I write to change the world. Sometimes I write and write and write until, within that very writing, I find the solution to the thing I have been trying to understand.

Today is day 29. The assignment today from Young Chicago Authors was to “write a collage poem that pieces together various texts to create a portrait of a place, moment or person.” I give you:

5 Texts Equal?

“Sorry, I dozed off.”

“I am right by your house. Are you home?”

“How was last night? Have you seen Nate?”

“Ok, cool!”

“You’re welcome”

“You’re Welcome.” It’s a simple, polite gesture. Sometimes it’s dismissive. Sometimes it’s as much as I can muster up when a response of “my pleasure” is kind of a lie.

“Sorry, I dozed off.” Sleeping like we sometimes do during our lives.

Leap

I asked the Universe once to know my purpose. And when it revealed itself to me, it was in the form of a question. This? was what happened instead of This! This? is what is happening instead of This!

My mission knocked on my door, “I am right by your house. Are you home?”

Leap

My friend posted to Facebook today. She had a whole status about how we sometimes don’t say yes because we think we are not ready. And then, years later, we realize that maybe we should have said yes anyhow. “Ok, Cool!” I am scared. “Ok, Cool!” But you were made for this very thing. “Ok, Cool!” Do it anyway.

Leap

“How was last night? Have you seen Nate?” This is from my mother. Last night was an art show. Mind blown. Last night was an installation that left me thinking about not thinking or maybe it was thinking about thinking -- either way, I was thinking. Last night was meeting a friend for an art show that, 24 hours later, I am not sure I understand. But I made a decision that whatever I saw in that art show was my truth. I am allowed to decide.

Leap

“Have you seen Nate?” Nate is my youngest. The question was about a kid going on a choir trip and whether or not I had given him the spending money my mother wanted him to have. It was a logistical question. But, like many other logistical questions, it could have more meaning. Have I seen the child who knows who he is? Have I seen the child whose sense of humor sometimes overrides his logic and reason? Have I seen the child who questions authority and sometimes dismisses it? Have I seen the child who has always had a band of multicultural friends, who wants to change the world for the better, who, if I include his brother Joey, is one of two people whom I love more than any other people on the face of this earth.

I had seen him. And now I was looking for him inside myself.

Leap

There are moment in our lives that will change us. There are moments that begin a domino effect that we will ride the wave of for years to come. And so it is with this very site upon which you are reading this very post. One day, I leapt. And You’re Welcome and Ok. Cool! And How was last night and Are you home all replaced, “Sorry, I dozed off.”

No more sleeping. Only varying degrees of woke.

Leapt

#youngchicagoauthors #louderthanabomb