Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Ada Limón (1976-). Many of you have probably received this wonderful and necessary poem via text or in a handwritten note from me in the last few years–now I want to share it with all of you!
“How to Triumph Like a Girl”
I like the lady horses best,
how they make it all look easy,
like running 40 miles per hour
is as fun as taking a nap, or grass.
I like their lady horse swagger,
after winning. Ears up, girls, ears up!
But mainly, let’s be honest, I like
that they’re ladies. As if this big
dangerous animal is also a part of me,
that somewhere inside the delicate
skin of my body, there pumps
an 8-pound female horse heart,
giant with power, heavy with blood.
Don’t you want to believe it?
Don’t you want to tug my shirt and see
the huge beating genius machine
that thinks, no, it knows,
it’s going to come in first.
from Bright Dead Things
live in the layers 