Baby Willow

I can be shallow

and I can be sad.

I can sit on my bed,

in the safe darkness of my room,

and hug my knees to my chest

trying to lose myself in the music and the words

because I feel like I'm slipping.

I can sit on the grass,

cross-legged with my best friends,

getting high on August air

laughing so hard that I can't squeeze my hands into fists

and it hurts my abs from yesterday's workout.

I can sit in the woods,

by myself,

and think by the waterfall

of the big things in the world and also of the small things

and know that I'm connected to it all.

I can sit with my grandpa,

and learn about race horses,

and about buying low and selling high

and sports and culture and kindness and the big picture,

and mostly about life.

I can sit under a full moon,

or in a pile of snow,

and I can feel 5 years old and 15 years old and 100 years old

but no matter how old I am

there is still so much to figure out.

But I can stand up,

for what I believe in, and who I believe in,

because I do believe,

in people, and in science, and in nature, and the in world,

and also, I believe in myself.

I can be shallow

and I can be sad.

I think if you read my poems you might understand.