By Tommy Airey

I’m taking
the short
leash off

the pursuit of
approval and
the puritanical,
cultivating
likes and shares,
clinging to

privilege,

feeding destructive
entitlement,
obsessing
over others’ opinions,
catastrophizing
about conflicts
with my Lover,
maintaining

an ideal image,

pressuring
myself
to know
everything,
fretting
finances,
lamenting
loneliness,

the heroic

deluding
my dreams.

I’m the underdog
coming back,
openhearted,
grieving,
filling up
journals,
breathing in

belovedness,

releasing scapegoats,
taking days off
to proclaim freedom
from the tyranny of
achievement,
pursuing people
who risk
the contagion of

vulnerability,

yearning to understand
the motives of the masses
just coping, coping, coping,
holding them tenderly in
Love,
conspiring for them in
Solidarity,
staying congruent,

living simply,

celebrating abundantly,
staying
present
and
attentive
to all
Things,
mingling with gentleness,
forgiving myself
against all odds.