Emily Kirchner

1. Sometimes you have to flip your life upside down
so all the broken pieces fall out.
Mistakes have a fear of falling
because when they land,
they evolve into a new puzzle
you don’t have to spend your life solving.

2. Sometimes your shadow is your most loyal follower.
Other times, friends are shadows.
They don’t follow you everywhere,
but are always there
Even if you can’t see them in a dark room.

3. You will be relationshipwrecked
If one or both of you
demands to be captain
and resentment is swept under the iceberg.

4. Pay a friendly visit to the person you were ten years ago.
Ask their advice.
Sometimes your past self knows more than you.

5. The world is flat.
Not in equal opportunity,
but in the way that
Even if some are born in craters
and others on mountains,
We are all at the whim of
Time, chance, lightning bolts, asteroids
and the compulsive gambler known as genetics.
Let’s level the playing field
until the world is flat enough to ascend.

6. There will be moments when you want to high-five the hands of time
Like when you break out of a you-shaped box
or fall through the cracks of someone’s smile
or knit an especially cozy blanket statement
or a chance takes you,
And you bask in the free fall
of narrating your own story,
while letting it write itself.

Do it.
Your shadow,
the clock,
and the mountainous flat earth
are waiting with open arms.
Return their welcome
and brace for embrace.