Each Human Cell

When I was a photographer
I chased the light
Outside,
Looking to make
My meaning
From someone else’s story,
Chasing someone else’s vision
Of what my life
What my love
Should look like

The light
Always changed
The moment always passed
I was always so afraid
I’d missed The Shot

So many mothers longed
To be in their pictures
But were afraid of looking fat

Sold catalogues of Perfect–
Matching clothes, plastic smiles
Tilted heads at sliming angles

As if love can’t shine
From messy houses
Unpressed blouses
Fat bodies

Bullshit

Love is not a picture
Of a performance
It’s a presence
That holds all our light
And our darkness

I’m not chasing anymore
I’m finding what I was looking for
The source of my own shine
Lifting my blindness
Singing the prayers that soften my hardness

I harness each word
Love letters to each human cell
Love in each letter
For our great human swell.
No one can quell
The love lights that swell within us
Made clear by our own darkness