Poem 3

Unfiltered

 

How much of me is unfiltered?

 

Am I a compilation of people I’ve met

and admired or had issues with?

 

Smart kids in college.

Athletes in high school.

Winners with the girls.

 

Those with ideas I love

but would never have thought of

in a million zillion years.

 

How much of me is unfiltered?

 

The Marlboro man puffing with certainty.

Babe Ruth pointing to the stands.

Ranting politicians.

 

How much of me is unfiltered?

 

Each day dripping newness

as if rain has washed away

what used to be me.

 

Much of me is unfiltered.

 

because all my huge decisions,

the ones that changed the rest of my life

the ones I talk about reverentially now

that may bore those around me who

have heard the story one too many times…

 

were shots of lightning

blasted from the canon

of imagination freed from

the fear of doing something wrong.