home is:

where you can be angry & ugly, 

be mangled & safe,

can be an unbridled mess & an enthusiast

me

when i wash my skin & oil it

make room for the big bad sadness 

& honor anger,

soothe myself,

clean myself of the staggering sense of loss with sways,

slow, deliberate movement

& bounce in place with giddiness at small joys

witness myself

& speak kindly to my reflection in the mirror

even when the vessel that houses her has adjusted form 

my mother, even if the limits of her love

walls 

sometimes look a little too alike to suffocation, erasure

where a whole watermelon is sliced in half

& i get first pick of the bowls

the blemishes of my skin are dabbed at with ointment 

laughter is always echoing,

bouncing off the walls in an endless ricochet

& the dogs bark endlessly

the love is halves & in sound

always the sound

where tousled hair meets barely conscious love

& i can be wanted & needed 

a sweet treat accompanies every meal

& we share a too-small bed 

or seek each other in a too-large one

accomodation abounds

for the ugly, frayed, & tired — all celebrated as the beautiful is

body & soul are enriched

& consciousness slips 

with adoration on the tongue

where peals of laughter appear from silence

& contact is sought,

by feet, by hands, by skin

even eyelashes, when we blink too close

where i am known, 

can be human

& fussed over,

the most torrential of all babies

as i swing & bounce between sentiments 

& i am worth inconvenience, expense,

with open arms & welcoming 

even when it means picking out the onions

where i can be curious & heard

& laugh in the ugliest ways 

rest easy with the awareness that 

shape

shame 

tragedy

& pain

do not make me any more difficult to encapsulate 

with arms

& softness

with stories 

& kindness

#IkoPoetryChallenge