I am falling in love
with my imperfections
The way I never get the sink really clean,
forget to check my oil,
lose my car in parking lots,
miss appointments I have written down,
am just a little late.
I am learning to love
the small bumps on my face
the big bump of my nose,
my hairless scalp,
chipped nail polish,
toes that overlap.
Learning to love
the open-ended mystery
of not knowing why
I am learning to fail
to make lists,
use my time wisely,
read the books I should.
Instead I practice inconsistency,
irrationality, forgetfulness.
Probably I should
hang my clothes neatly in the closet
all the shirts together, then the pants,
send Christmas cards, or better yet
a letter telling of
my perfect family.
But I'd rather waste time
listening to the rain,
or lying underneath my cat
learning to purr.
I used to fill every moment
with something I could
cross off later.
Perfect was
the laundry done and folded
all my papers graded
the whole truth and nothing but
Now the empty mind is what I seek
the formless shape
the strange off center
sometimes fictional
me.
Oh, my. How did she know about me?
This poem really speaks to the teacher and housewife in me. The one who didn't always grade every single paper, who sometimes forgot that stack over on the table, who leaves the house undusted and the dishes in the sink in order to take a camara out into the spring and with it rejoice in the profligate beauty of new green and yellow daffodils inorder to share that beauty with students who are learning how to look.
Wonderful! Imperfection can only come with age!
I love this! Including the truth of learning to purr.
Great! Amen. Of great comfort to me!
imperfection is beauty. whoever decided perfection was key was way off. its in our imperfections we find who we truly are.
Im falling in love with how my knees pop loudly when I walk, how my undereye circles get a prettier shade of purple everyday, how every clothing item is missing a button or has a hole here, a tear there, hoe my shoes are worn ans scuffed, my freckled sporadic & random, my birthmark darkens in the summer, and how my eyelashes are the unappreciated shade of blonde. I love that Im getting my first wrinkles and gray hair. Makes me feel like a superheroine. I love that my spine is extra curved and my laugh extra rambunctious. I appreciate the imperfections of the tummy I am growing after decades of a flat stomach. I am appreciative of all the wonderful hairs allover my body I have finally grown out and quit shaving. How my eyebrows grow uneven. How my fingers are crooked. The 12 hairs that grow directly beneath my bellybutton. Thanks God for every "imperfection" that is actually perfection because you created it. Thank you for your creativity and my design.
2good songs that motivate me are the francesca bodicelli "I lost my keys in the great unknown and call me please cus I cant find my phone" and the other Im not sure the artist "I got a couple dents in my fenders, got a couple rips in my jeans, tryna hold the pieces together but perfection is my enemy on my own im so clumsy but on your shoulder i can see Im free to be me"
I don't know if it is age, or all the miles I've traveled in my body, but the imperfections don't bother me like they used to.
I like this piece today.
Oh Elizabeth, you are a God send! As I ran to the computer (because I've wasted time all morning painting a picture or 2)to waste time checking my email, I was rewarded with this beautiful poem about my imperfection. I guess you might have meant yours, too. I love you and me too!
Ouch. Beautiful lesson.
Amen!
splendid poem. thank you.
This is just fantastic. It really speaks to my actions these days in many ways. Great to know there are others who know and understand.
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