After the car accident
we got a dog
decided life was too short
not to be
greeted by a wagging tail every morning
not to witness
the joy of an open field of grass
for our eyes not to light up
at the prospect of eating biscuits
We left our old jobs
stopped letting older people
tell us what to do or how
our efforts weren’t good enough
we started writing in our journals
only let our therapists be the people
to reveal the lessons our own bodies
had been hiding for so long
we will be the ones to tell ourselves what comes next
We still don’t love a car ride
being in the back seat, our bodies strapped in and speeding
with someone else behind the wheel
but we finally climbed into
the driving seat of our own lives
we still sleep in on weekends
we cut ourselves some slack
let inspiration strike and make things
build careers inn the same way that we cook dinner,
what do we already have in the cupboard? what do I want on my tongue to go with that? If I offer up my meal, will someone else in the world, a loved one perhaps, could they be nourished by the product of my hands?
Only we can do the things that we can do
no one else is going to be ourselves for us
we almost didn’t live to make this reality
we are now a self-fulfilling prophecy
we are still scared
but nonetheless determined
to live these short lives to the full