#verselove - 25: falling short

For the month of April, I am participating in 30 days of #verselove poetry writing with Dr. Sarah J. Donovan's Ethical ELA. 

Today's poetry inspiration was by Ellen Stackable, who is the founder of Poetic Justice, which offers restorative writing workshops to incarcerated women. For today's writing, she encouraged us to write about 'labels' that we carry, and to think about who we were yesterday, who we are today, who we hope to be tomorrow. 

falling short

the judgement 
the reproach
the inadequacy of me

falling short

though I cannot undo the carving
I can turn the cut a bit

see it from different angles
see its many facets 
see if it glimmers at all

falling short

I knew I know I will always know
I am not 
all that I should be

I can only fall short if I am trying
I can only try if I am living
sinning offers perspective
failing, questioning, mistakes

are the stuff of full lives 
I am another flawed human being
falling short

trying to love deeply
believing in 
growth
understanding
forgiveness

a loving God 
falling short

I’ll take it
I see the way it glimmers
in new light

childhood labels
are not soft stickers easily peeled off
but wounds forever carved 

in one’s innermost thoughts
as Leonard Cohen says
I have tried in my way to be free