
Belonging
And if it’s true we are alone,
we are alone together,
the way blades of grass
are alone, but exist as a field.
Sometimes I feel it,
the green fuse that ignites us,
the wild thrum that unites us,
an inner hum that reminds us
of our shared humanity.
Just as thirty-five trillion
red blood cells join in one body
to become one blood.
Just as one hundred thirty-six thousand
notes make up one symphony.
Alone as we are, our small voices
weave into the one big conversation.
Our actions are essential
to the one infinite story of what it is
to be alive. When we feel alone,
we belong to the grand communion
of those who sometimes feel alone—
we are the dust, the dust that hopes,
a rising of dust, a thrill of dust,
the dust that dances in the light
with all other dust, the dust
that makes the world.
“We don’t have to do all of it alone.
We were never meant to.” – Brené Brown
The Beat of my Heart
This heart beats for Loyalty
and too for acceptance
with or without commonality
it beats for simplicity
in a world full of complexity
for the sounds of my family
for lost love and last loves
for the lost and the found
for kisses once dreamed of
and gendered equality
It beats for diversity
to be brave and show courage
in the face of adversity
it beats to end prejudice
and be fierce in the fight
for all human rights
like those who precede me
It beats for memory of time
for belonging and longing
for all that is certain
and all that is not it beats
for the breath that rests
between life death
and freedom
“Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it because you’ve made that your mission. Stop scouring people’s faces for evidence that you’re not enough. You will always find it because you’ve made that your goal. True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially your own. No one belongs here more than you.”
