the ten things I know to be true are this;
that life is trivial
this is the beginning but also the conclusion, not a list but at the same time
notarized
as much as we care, no one else does.
we are our own worst critic, the faceless person in the crowd who boos when we dare to speak and
the stranger on the street that laughs when our scuffed, thrifted shoes scrape the curb of the sidewalk and
we fall.


if this was a list – which it is not, two and three would be the knowledge of something up there
and the knowledge of something in here
the fact of a universe we have only just scraped the surface of, the knowledge of a universe long beyond the reach of our inexperienced two palms
juxtaposed
with the heart beating in our chests now
we,
us,
breathing,
the unnerving same as our neighbor’s, as our family’s, as our enemy and the old lady at the end of the street who’s vigil at the window for a husband never to come home and the chipped teacups overflowing with a sadness on her mantle I will never understand speaks volumes to


fourth.
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maybe next on this list-not-a-list is the future
whether we choose to believe it
or turn away
we are the future of tomorrow
our voices, while seemingly small and insignificant, will one day rule the world
what we choose to do with it matters
in the right here and the right now


sixth is the fact that heartbreak is the synonym of love.
that just like the night and day
the desert sand and the ocean waves
we cannot have one without the other
everything does not happen for a reason
we do not hurt
to learn
we hurt to hurt
this is life
we are unapologetically alive to no one’s ire but our own
our hurt does not translate into lessons for us to learn
but rather things we teach to ourselves
and others


seventh is that strawberry in lollipops is the worst kind of artificial next to blue raspberry
blue raspberry is not a flavor, america
wake up


saying maybe before stating another thing is a lie, isn’t it?
I can’t “perhaps” or “maybe” know something
or maybe I can conceivably I know my future,
perchance I am at ease with the fact that my future stretches wide and far in front of me, like the ocean, more than my eye can see or my body can sail
I may reach the end of the world
flat or rounded it may be
and fall off the edge
without knowing it
my sails will rip and my bow will snap
and I’ll be lost to the tide I once believed would carry me to the shining future
a child version of myself so desperately longed for
I am blind no matter if the sun is in my eyes or not


I know to be true that my parents will never, ever accept me for who I am


tenth is that I cannot control their opinion of me
nor do I care
I am here, my motions controlled by my own actions as I pull my own strings
marionette
no one else
but me.