A thousand and one things
Happen
In the playground of our lives

We are given what we are given
And then
We make what we can
With what
We have received

We embroider strands
Of proffered and discarded materials
To create
Uniquely fabricated realities
For ourselves

Through our education
We kid ourselves
That standards are the standard
And grades are the grade

But should we not ask
What do children need to know from us?
What do they need to learn?
To become happy?

And what was it that we learned?
What was it?

All this information
All this expectation
Are we yet beating ourselves down with it
Battering our children?

As one climbs higher
The air thins
And so I yearn to feel the closeness
Of your body

I desire to be with you
In my illness
As winter grinds on

Spring!
I call to you
Embrace me
In the milkiness of your *****!

Refresh me
As I present
My naked self

Though we are weak
We struggle
Onwards
Together

Perhaps towards uncertain victory
Imperfect as we are