Thank you, Taylor Mali

Thank You, Taylor Mali

He spoke to a crowd of a thousand teachers

and from him I plucked a line

and claimed it for my own.

In the days hence,

I have inked every inch
of my body with the words,

imprinted the walls with the line.

The words tumble from cupboards,

leap from drawers.

I have tattooed the air with their sound.

“It is okay to feel two ways about one thing!”

I re-titled a poem about the grief and gratitude

that reside in me

in the days since my daughter took her life

because it begged for the line as a title

and I read the poem with its new name

at an open mic in a room where Mali sat.

The reception for my poem was warm.

I was applauded and thanked,

and Mali gave me an autographed book

dedicated to his wife who died by suicide,

offering me a hug --

leading me to wrestle with the duality

of my acknowledgement

being tied to an event so tragic.

But we are all unsettled

by the dark that lives with light,

the guilt that lives with joy,

the pain that sits with hope.

It is okay to feel two ways about one thing.

It is okay.