Raw Goods

carnival ps

> ps what was the thing you want me to do that you're
> afraid to do?


to breathe.
to remember,
to wait.

do more than close yourself off in
a cubicle
a house
a computer
a head
and call that safety

to expect nothing less than glory
live like the fingers will do the work and the mind
will follow,
speak without wanting people to fill in the blanks -
open up new blanks in your mind (and others').

depend on doubt
exchange words with a future you'll never meet
ask of the past what it couldn't say yet
and bring your friends to places they've never been

give it all a name before it goes away

have patience.
recognize chances when they come
and accept the losses when they go

leave pictures in living stillness
and hear wonder from the people who approach
the flapping pages
black and white images
of dead, disturbed, and dancing

insist on exactitude
(he died from AIDS)
and forgive generality
(she became a widow)
recognize inconsistencies
(man or woman or both)
and seek specificity

(wojnarowicz,
barishnikov,
jackie o.)

sip and savor
(coffee and tea)
draw on deep reserves
(cigs in the tub)

to let go
hold back just enough...
and give it all.

go ahead -
you haven't gone here yet
become what you haven't imagined
imagine what you wouldn't dare
do it anyway

believe

let the laughter leave you
let the silence claim you
and fill it
fill it with your gifts
you have much more to offer than your pain
you have more to heal than your hurts
your pleasure is not a cliche
your acts are demands
know them
claim them
make them ours

keep what's yours
let go the rest
save yourself
lose yourself
let it all behind
take it with you

delve into 'it':
agony is exclusion from
a time that won't come again:
a land, a home, a promise

be unsatisfied with vague emphasis
come back to the middle -
eternity is the space between us all
we call it words, the page, language

insist on it's malleability

maintain your right to define
what has defined you
make sure we know
how to do it too
let us learn
what it takes
to make our power ours
share it
spend it
to the end
and beyond

know words outlive us
rule that uncertain grace

posted by judy j @ 1:20 PM