162)

Let’s call this a toast
or call this something
or let me call this nothing else
but a reflection of my respect.
or let’s call it what it is
so we can leave it at that
and get on with it.

I raise my glass to those
or to them who remain unafraid
and I raise my glass to those
who remain untested
and to them, I say
may the tests from life be brief
but impactful.

159)

You need the rain,
sometimes,
because sometimes,
you need a day
to sit back
and let the gray sky
do its trick.

156)

I have a question,
and the question is simple.
Is it naive to be optimistic,
or is it foolish to be hopeful
in hopeless times?

I wonder . . .

152)

We need to move
and at the same time
we need to pay attention
to the direction,
as in where do we want to go?
How do we want to get there?

Which way do we want to head first,
when do we want to start,
and what are we willing to do
to get where we want to be?

148)

I go back to that saying
which I agree with
and to which I have heard
this often enough that I laugh
because I often forget,
and in my forgetfulness,
I argue with the irrationalities
which we both face
on a frequent basis.

The saying goes,
never in the history
of calming down
has anybody ever calmed down
simply by being told
to calm down.

144)

The way I see it is –
you have to lose yourself
in something, otherwise,
you can lose yourself
to everything,
if you know what I mean.

I remember back
when my friend Mitch
once told me,
don’t play that movie out
in your head—and
he was right.

141)

There is something about the sting of purity,
like how the cleaner stings the cut
or like when Mom wipes the cotton
across a scraped knee,
and it burns . . .
or like, when they wiped the cut
I got the first time I had to get stitches –
and I remember, even when I was younger
about how someone told me
sometimes,
it has to hurt, they said
if it’s to heal.

140)

Just one, for today.
But I need this one.
I need to be reminded
that there is more to me
than I see,
and so
I need to understand
that I am not the sum of my fears
or the limitations of a so-called sickness
nor am I less or more
simply because of my challenges
with social, economical,
and educational snobbery.

And so –

137)

Think about this
and for the moment,
I will keep this
as brief as I can,
but think about your defining moment
and what you want this to be.

Think about your moment
in the bright lights
and the award goes to . . .
and there you are
the recipient of something
more amazing than you ever expected.

133)

It is crazy to say
or to think about
or to realize
and at the same time,
no one knows who they
are to someone else.

I have no idea
what the concept of touch feels like
from your hand
and, at the same time,
I cannot see color
from your perspective
or know the comfort of sound
to your ears,
or the taste of food
on your tongue.