praise the patience of co-poets piloting through this falling sky of deadlines and banklines and grief

praise the space they hold when

when the only poem i have to oer is to notice a small crack in the sidewalk and a ower growing out

 

praise every hand casting art into an ocean of question marks, being unafraid to reel in more questions

praise to mentors who agree that some waters are unnavigable, some pain unmendable,
who do not oer balm but a place to sit and cry

 

bless big sibling love
bless being born by the same strained love that we might talk about it and make dierent mistakes

bless the love that blues me
bless the love that is holding a door, sharing a song

 

praise to the biggest small blessings
how we make alters out of each other and give ourselves god and breakfast

bless the rugs we make into dance clubs
and the books we see ourselves in

 

somehow, praise the windstorm
that lay down the blue spruce whose roots aren’t supposed to root here

like so many of us aren’t supposed to root here

yet, praise this prairie cut up by highway and hotel

praise the spirits concrete can’t kill

 

and yes, bless the squirrels