Read and Be Merry!

I will, from time to time, publish (with their permission, of course, silly) other peoples' work on this blog, because I will not always have the guts to jump into my head and pull something worthy out to show you.  Today is one of those days.  And why does this, below, make me feel merry?  Anytime someone tells on themselves, tells the truth, sees things up close or is not scared to be brutally sensitive, it makes me feel like celebrating.  Anytime any of us goofy humans actually happen upon what we, individually, were built for, that thing specific to each little one of us... it's happy madness, a jolly good time.

This day's installment is brought to you by our friendly neighborhood Brok "Tryst" Kerbrat, who is not only an awesome poet and writer, but posts his items on his facebook page, so that I have something awesome to read among the scary media fallacies, political rants, and diet updates.  Not that I don't enjoy all of the latter, but it is nice to have a poem or two sprinkled into the mix.  It is in my humble opinion that we need to read at least one thing a day that doesn't furrow our brow, but rather reminds us that we were born alive and are not dead yet.  Enjoy!

via FB,  Brok "Tryst" Kerbrat, 1/24/2013

‎: Someone asked why I didn't join the Marines.

I was not built for war.

I was built to watch. To see the everyday in things we overlook, everyday. Watching Lion King while your cat is heat. A stripper wearing a cross around her neck. A man entering Planned Parenthood, alone. To know that somethings are more normal than they appear.

I was built for sound. The bass drop as the music hits the dance floor. The vocalizations of those who do not grace the stage, but take it as an act disobedience. The little words we mess up but never enough to miss the point. Faith. Trust. Happiness. Unless we miss the point. God. Truth. Happiness.

I was built to conquer. To rise above the challenges of trying not to give up. To put my shirt on the same way I finally could, by myself, when I was ten. To drive faster than you, because I have lost the fear of speed through the survival of impacts one, two, and three. To stop faster than you, because I do not want to be your first impact. And when I am on that stage, I carry the body of a boy who has faded into the memory of shame and delusion and hold it to the flame of who I am today.

I was built to bleed. To lose and give away. To make mistakes. To pick the wrong times to say the wrong words to the wrong people. Please. Stay. Love.

I was built to heal. To grow and hold tight to the scars upon my bones as lines I will not cross again. To live for the right moments and right words, with the right one. Please. Stay. Love.

I was asked why I did not join the Marines.

Correction: I am not built for someone else's war.