Is it because
you can not bear your own weaknesses
that you are so angry
faced with others’ weakness?
In your fervent effort
to do what must be done,
do you not see your heart?
What are you afraid
we will see, in your weakness?
Vulnerability is beautiful.
Vulnerability expands
your universe.
Don’t be afraid
to be kind to yourself,
and kind to others.
We are all weak once
in a while.
I should have
warned you about our bud.
She’s thorny
but she’s precious.
Touch her brusquely
and you’ll bleed from flesh
torn by her thorns.
They are sharp, but they protect
a precious bud.
Some day, if we tend her well
she will blossom into a glorious rose,
for now she is a thorny stalk
with a tentative bud,
doubtful of blooming.
She will need to be coaxed,
but someday, her unique beauty
will amaze you.
She will show the world
talent, insight, and vision.
She’ll be a complexity of
colour, scent, tenacity.
For now, she is a thorny stalk,
but we have faith
the guarded bud
will bloom
Kill the critic:
let him drown in the
flow of your words.
Kill the critic:
let him sear in the
molten eruption
from the core of you.
Kill the critic:
let him smother
gasping against the tide
of your creativity,
.grasping at the emptiness
that was your insecurities.
Kill the critic:
be free.
.
.
NB: I do not advocate murder of anything but the inner voice that tells you that you’re inadequate. Your inner critic has no business in your writing head-space. You can’t edit a blank page.
Shawn L. Bird 