Still, We Come
Reflections on Survival and Ordinary Grace
My brother is a stranger to me
until he is home again
jaw first, then the way
he stands against a wall
deciding.
π
I have loved men
the way drought loves rain
without grace,
without mercy,
without end.
π
There is a boy who finds
his own beauty
only late at night
only alone
only when no one
is keeping score.
π
That finding is everything.
π
You ask what we want.
I want to eat a meal
and say nothing to the table.
I want my mother's mouth
to form around my life
and stay.
π
We made words for ourselves
in the dark,
on scraps,
in code,
passed hand to hand
like water in a dry season.
π
We have buried so many
who only wanted
to grow old and difficult,
to embarrass their grandchildren,
to forget where they left
their keys.
π
That is the inheritance we carry.
Their interrupted ordinary.
π
Silence never protected anyone.
I know because I swallowed it
for years
and grew sick on the saving.
So I spoke.
To no one.
To myself first,
which is where
all true things begin.
π
And still, we come to this,
a man reaching for another man's face
on a street that has seen worse.
A body refusing
the only two choices given
and making a third.
A soul stepping forward
into its own true name.
π
This is the day.
This is survival so practiced
it starts to look like living.
And some days
it is.
About the Creator
Tim Carmichael
I am an Appalachian poet and cookbook author. I write about rural life, family, and the places I grew up around. My poetry and essays have appeared in Beautiful and Brutal Things, My latest book. Check it out on Amazon
Keep reading
More stories from Tim Carmichael and writers in Pride and other communities.
The Pride Flag and the Diversion
For nearly a decade, the LGBTQIA Pride Flag rippled in the wind at Christopher Park, a kaleidoscope of color staked into the soil of Americaβs first national monument to LGBTQIA+ liberation. That flag came down this week. Federal officials, citing new guidance from the Trump Administration, silently lowered the rainbow flag from its pole across the street from the Stonewall Inn. The birthplace of the modern gay rights movement now flies only the United States flag.
By Tim Carmichael24 days ago in Pride
Comments (2)
Very gorgeous & empowering!
Wonderful depth to this. My inner child is currently indulged in some surface play, maybe mapping out the underwater caves waiting to be spelunked.π