The choir room, Christmas,
nearing 2000.
A moment that shaped
a bit of who I am today.
Prior to Jodi wedging me deep
into the fabric of a lecture chair
I confessed to being less.
I'll keep her response in my memory;
of independence, self esteem.
All of the self assurance
I wasn't able to feel in that moment.
If I had the chance,
I'd go back and hang on every word.
Listen closer, instead of feeling like
the dust in the hidden seam of that chair.
I couldn't see the many things bigger than myself,
my weaknesses. . .
I was so small;
I couldn't get over what the student
to my left would whisper.
Before hearing the one to my right
whisper what I needed to know-
so I could never feel small again.
You have to tear your past down.
