As I notice myself
keeping a wary distance
from people being nice
in an L.A. kind of way
and people wearing urban liberal
like trendy clothes,
and people easy in their answers —
any kind of answers —
for why the world is wrong
in so many errant places

I see it’s all the same —
my wariness, their certainty,
the self-approving niceness,
none of which have the virtue
of simple, heartfelt keening
for the world

No matter. We’ll bring our husks,
our empty shells, our broken explanations,
we’ll set them down
where Truth’s tide will take them.
We’ll let ourselves be washed and lifted
in the embracing waves.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 6, 2017