be not afraid

You let yourself be born,
so you are not afraid of a mess.
Born to a woman,
so you are not afraid of irrationality.
Born into a family,
so you are not afraid of drama.
Born within community,
so you are not afraid of loneliness.
Born in a body,
so you are not afraid of pain.
Born in uncertain times,
so you are not afraid of the future.
Born with an impossible mission,
so you are not afraid of failure.
And I am all of these:
a mess of irrational drama,
alone in an overcrowded body,
failing and afraid--
so you are not afraid of me.

flunking failure

I remember learning
how to meet a deadline,
make a good
first impression,
play well with others.
I must have missed
the lesson
on how to manage
the other half
of being human:
screwing it all up
and still walking out
alive,
falling on my face,
failing.
Who teaches a kid
to fail well?
If I try and fail,
maybe that will be
success after all.