Thoughts on giving up

Don’t give up 

When the world outside 

is asking too much 

and everyone I know 

grows sharp teeth

and everything they say 

sounds like a request for blood 

I look inside 

Take a walk across my desert 

Feel my feet fall upon sand

that is dry and cracked 

Listen for the rustling 

of dying leaves 

Brush the tallest weeds 

against the palms 

of my outstretched hands

When it seems like 

the stranger is pushing 

I wonder if maybe 

it is the friend who is pulling 

Who will not give up 

Will not let me give up on myself 

I play games

of hide and seek

I place bandaids of pride

on my dodgeball strawberries

and I pick myself last 

for kickball 

every time 

Not yet deciphered

The Magpie has a bad reputation

for thievery and deviance

but the truth is

they are curious and misunderstood

Crows and Ravens are labled

with omen and mystery

but actually they speak complex languages

not yet deciphered

with variations of accents, regions and species 

Like a parrots phrases 

begging for attention 

and connection 

Squawking

with obnoxious reitieration 

we mimic the separation we are shown 

In the midst of our instant replay disbelief

we loop the recording on repeat 

Polly want a cracker

Polly want to crack

Polly wants

and then cracks

Sometimes

Sometimes

we push ourselves to broken 

before we allow ourselves to rest 

in another’s arms 

if we ever do at all

Sometimes we live inside our shells 

wrapped in our own arms 

never knowing the difference 

until we come to the end of our life 

and rot inside our egg 

Sometimes we wiggle the constriction

hairline fractures appear 

and we peer out

eyes pressed against the openings 

Blinded by the light 

wide-eyed 

watching from the inside 

Sometimes we bust and fumble

with clumsy excitement 

dance on eggshells 

fall to the ground 

and bounce hard 

stretch our wings  

and try again 

Sometimes we figure out 
how to slice through the thickness 

that holds so much resistance 

and for a moment we know
that falling 
is not 
the end
Sometimes