Helium

Muscle is created by lifting things

that are designed to weigh us down.

When your shoulders are heavy

stand up straight and call it exercise.

When your day is a museum of disappointments,

hanging from events that were outside of your control,

when you feel like your guardian

angel put in his two weeks notice two months ago

and just decided not to tell you,

when it seems like God

is just a babysitter that’s always on the phone,

when you get punched in the esophagus

by a fistful of life.

Remember,

every year

two million people die of dehydration.

So it doesn’t matter if

the glass is half full or half empty.

There’s water in the cup.

Drink it and stop complaining.

Most people have no idea

that tragedy and silence

often have the exact same address.

Tell me how blessed are we to have tragedy

so small it can fit on the tips of our tongues.

I’m learning

that I don’t always

have to make noise

to be seen,

that even my silence

has a spine, a rumble

and says, I’m here

in its native tongue.

So I’ve never caught a live grenade

with my bare hands.

So I don’t know exactly how it feels,

but I imagine it’s a lot like getting a text

that says, “Hey, we really need to talk.”

The kids are playing

a game that they made up themselves

and changing the rules every five minutes.

Their smiles are so big, you can fit history

inside of them and still have room for right

now and the future.

Today, I’m trying to perfect the art

of enjoying my own company.

I am exercising isolation

and letting it flex in front

of the mirror like my

proudest muscle.

Some days, it’s just me

by myself, the room

is at capacity

and there is nothing

more enticing than silence.

Forgiveness
is the well that all of my water

comes from.

I pour it over my past, apologize

to my reflection.

He accepts.

She asks me to kill the spider.

Instead, I get the most

peaceful weapons I can find.

I take a cup and a napkin.

I catch the spider, put it outside

and allow it to walk away.

If I am ever caught in the wrong place

at the wrong time, just being alive

and not bothering anyone,

I hope I am greeted

with the same kind

of mercy.