A Poem For You

A remedy for our collective angst

Muttonbirds are scattered
along the coast today, 
brought in by storm’s tide.

Swollen, they lay half buried 
in the sun, eyes hollowed by salt, 
feathers laden with drift sand.

And I wonder if I can bury 
them all, or cast them 
back out to sea, their migration
culled by the tender fury of 
a telluric mind.

But instead, 
I sit and allow 
my heart to become 
a fervid outpouring
of hopelessness and fragility, 
beauty and madness, 

and in place of some story 
about right and wrong,
some narrative about what 
should and must be…surely?!

I let the truth of my body 
meet what is here.

Righteousness and sin
torn asunder in a body
that is too, a shoreline,
strewn with many things 
that I flounder to meet with 
gentleness and compassion. 

I can only turn inward
and allow the heart to be broken
by what the mind wishes to 
ascend, fix, rage and medicate. 

I can only turn away 
from the story that horror 
is out there 
and not in me, 
or that beauty
is in me, 
and not out there. 

To have no story at all 
is to reside in the heart 
and witness a tide that 
can only ever offer what
I choose to offer myself. 

In response to the heartfelt requests from our community to address our shared anxiety surrounding the elections, I've approached the topic in the most authentic way I know—through poetry. I invite you to engage with this poem in your own unique way, drawing comfort from the words that resonate.

Should you feel inspired, I’d love for you to share your interpretations and thoughts in the comments below. Your perspectives enrich our deeper understanding of what it means to be human during these uncertain times.

---