potent

For the sake of balance I am putting this here.
See, Jackson and I have a real problem with the idea of potential because it creates such a pressure and has such a cold front that nothing but a hurricane of emotions is sure to come of it. And then there are also people who use that word with such aplomb, like a giant Eff You to the pressure to be more than I have to be.
Vicki is one of those.

I started writing about all that confusion and it turned out so, well, helpful I just couldn't keep it from you.

We have such big plans these days... to bear such good fruit. Growing branches strong enough is tricky but not impossible thanks to folks like Vicki.

Potent
For Vicki

Her hands clench air near her heart
Like claws wrenching flesh from bone
To show me how this unraveling takes time.
It is as though her fingers are working
One strand of each:
Hope into past.

The things to recover from are still piling up
All around us even as she says
You would let them build with blocks,
Talk to them, teach them and listen.

She talked of my potential as though it
Were my best friend
And the future
Is someone to meet for coffee
I imagined I could chat and reminisce with whoever
I want
to be,
Who I am going to be
When all this unravels and I
Go along with it.