My favorite people are the ones
who do what they say,
because sometimes
standing behind your word
is a mountain
that crumbles over your loyalty
before you can salvage your own heart,
and now it is smashed dirty;
an unrecognizable promise
identifying as nothing more than a lie.
My favorite people
are the ones who aren’t afraid
to strip it down to the bare-boned bravery
gone extinct, and stand tall
even if it means standing alone.
I am standing alone
and I’m not sorry.
My favorite people
are the ones who wouldn’t expect
an apology for an opinion
that doesn’t coincide with theirs.
The ones big enough
to respect a view point
that crawled out of the box
and flew out of the cage
before it could be transformed
into a statue
molded with fidgety hands
and small minded robots
pointing the way.
My favorite people
are the ones who don’t play
follow the leader
as they keep looking back
to see the crowd behind them,
while holding tight
to the ones in front of them.
Because life is too short
to think your ending is going to be
any different than mine.
So, friend,
if you must call me out
to make yourself feel better,
at least do it intellectually
because all of us have beating hearts
that bleed out passion for something.
If mine bleeds a passion
that doesn’t conform to yours,
it does not mean
my heart is beating wrong.
It means you haven’t learned
that everyone is different.
It means you haven’t learned
that everyone is indeed
entitled to their own opinion
whether you like it or not,
it’s mine.
My favorite people
are the ones who understand
what that means,
and respect the hard learned lesson
of knowing how to agree to disagree.
Be big enough
and brave enough
to listen without shoving
your own views down my throat,
forcing me to swallow it down
with a smile; I never will.
And I wouldn’t expect you to.
beautifully articulated truths so relevant, and have been so on my heart recently in regards to some friends. perfect.
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Oi, darlin
I randomly came across a poem that slayed me with its familiarity, to my life and even my writing style
Each of those surprises on their own could have made me curious but both together made me determined…
I tracked down the poem and discovered your name, and,thank fuck, a pile of your work.
I wish you all the broken hearts and makeup moments, the best of friends and worst of times
And will eagerly await the aftermath
Sooo much appreciation and respect
Paula Naomi Johnson
Xo
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Thank you so much ❤️
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this doesn’t require big words just some from my heart I don’t know you I want to poet to poet word for word poem for poem let us play with words like kids in a pile of leafs
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