WE’ve got ancestral
gifts and diseases.

my virtue is collecting them
all, from where I am. Whatever is in reach.

My virtue is whatever name you
want to call me.

My virtue is showing up.

We’ve got aches and pains
that begin at the roots,
and touch every branch.

We’ve got friends with similar
diagnoses. Each leaf is a name
for what is really just pain.

What is pain but energy,
and I’m sorry but I only
took one creative writing class.
I got an A.

Grades don’t matter, but I got an F in Satire
AND I didn’t do that on purpose just to prove a point.

Do you know what does matter?
Your answer is flesh, made real.

We’ve got crayons in heaven with our
names on them. Do you know how
beautiful you are?

We’ve got superhero bandaids for
every single one of us.
For showing up.

You made it. You arrived. You cared enough
to keep arriving, to keep showing up.
You want to be a helping hand. You are curious,
how will all this go?

What can we do when we work together?
If I build it, will people come?
That’s not a question anymore.
I don’t even know who asked it first?

Who gets credit for creation, but God, and isn’t God,
also us? And you know how many names for God there are?
Shouldn’t there be as many names for God as there are particles of matter?
And what about the particles we haven’t created?
What about the unborn?

Can you sing a song with me? I want them to enter this world, welcomed.

Thank you.