possibility models

what do you wish 
people knew about you?
they should know I am not 
one of the good ones.

there aren’t any good ones. 
there are the ones 
that will apologize
and the ones that won’t.
the ones that know 
what they’re capable of
and the ones that don’t. 
we are all capable of everything.

where I grew up there were 
only two doors. all the mirrors 
were portraits of white men
in powdered wigs, scowling.
when I tumbled, the needles 
of the longleaf pine rustled,
winded and worried, hustling
a nest to gentle my fall. 

there aren’t any bad guys.
there are the ones who will
accept their culpability 
and the ones that won’t. 
the ones who hear
the voice of the turtle
and the ones that don’t. 
we are, each one of us, implicated.

if I can’t unspill the blood
at least let me be useful.
if I can’t be good
at least let me be brave.