This prompt asked me who has made an impact on my life
and I wonder whether it’s best to outline this through the medium that matters most to me
a medium that seems to always show what I am thinking better than prose can
Poetry done well can make you connect to people you didn’t think were similar to you at all
and if we want to get at the heart of things
poetry has a way of pulling those strings and making you think about what is really all that important in your life
So my poem/essay starts with a friend
This friend is a boy and no we will NEVER be in a relationship
but I care about him as much as I imagine two 90 year olds do when they sit in their rocking chairs
holding crinkled, knotted hands after sixty years of marriage and thinking about the day they met
able to express their appreciation for each other with the blink of an eye
as if a wink from an orb that has seen so much and at times, too much, can actually say
I love you.
In this cynical world of economic recessions and conflicts that sink you into a depression
having a friend who can point out the glowing hope at the end of a shooting star and tell you
“That’s how bright your future is”
can lift you beyond the Heavens into a celestial body you didn’t realize you were capable of fulfilling
And when that friend understands saying nothing at all works as well as saying just the right thing
it makes the loss of your mother that much easier
Few realize that all you need when the world shatters around you is just one solid piece under your feet
supporting the weight of your pain even if it takes the strength of Atlas
When you can release your soul and not fear judgment like you would from some other human who has declared himself God
you know you have placed your world in good hands.
Aristotle said a friend is one soul living in two bodies
and without my own best friend, I’d be nowhere near reaching my soul’s fullest potential
