At the Columbia City branch of Seattle Public Library…

I’m losing patience
with absolutes

I am so certain
of my uncertainty
that I can’t help myself

When I lacked vocabulary
my words regressed
and I would sound like
the ‘idiots’ I looked down upon

Now I know better—
but the world is filled
with shades of meaning

I struggle to catch up
so certain of my uncertainty
that I can’t help myself

I continue to speak
in absolutes

(14 January 2018)