Let this year be the year
we all finally look at each other and say
Yes
This Experience Remains Deeply Unpleasant.
And we acknowledge this
not out of pessimism or insincerity but because
naming it lets us set it aside.
Set this aside:
your anger, your fear, your sadness,
the despair that claws its way up your rib cage,
your self doubt, your creative blocks,
the selectivity in your memory
that steals away the tiny precious things
that matter, your sadness,
your fear, your anger, your fear.
Pick up:
cheap flowers at the grocery store,
a postcard from the bodega, your camera,
your dad’s old sweater, whiskey,
vintage photographs of people you don’t know,
costume jewelry, cappuccinos,
petting friendly dogs, park benches,
your friends, your lovers,
your friends. Your lovers.
The anger and fear and sadness is neither
the heart of you, nor the framework
you build your life inside of:
so put it down.
We do this together.