Image Description: Three gray-brown rocks are stacked upon each other, each smaller than the one beneath it. The rocks are on top of sand, and the sand has tracings with concentric circles as if there is a ripple effect from the rocks.
To the Person That Harms,
To the Family That Wounds,
To the Shame That Devours,
To the Violence That Festers,
To the Grief That Upends,
To the Diagnosis that Stuns,
To the Substance That Hooks,
To the System That Discriminates,
You,
Yes,
You,
Any of You, or
All of You, or
More Than You
(That Which Stays Silent or
That Which Exists Beyond Lists)
You.
You
have never been a gift in disguise —
not tied with a bow
or packaged with grand, silver linings.
But here’s one thing you’ve yet to figure out:
The more you knock us off balance —
The more you pummel,
The more you trounce,
The more you disrupt and delight in the off-kilter,
The more we come to know what our balance is.
And that balance,
when we know it,
when we can name it,
when we can internalize it,
is Strength Beyond Strength.
That Balance is Our Sacred Invitation.
That Balance is Our Secret Intervention.
Smuggling Grace 