Sometimes an Instagram poem just hits right. Maybe I need to write that last line on my hand so I can remember it–as my therapist says, “If you’re going to spend your energy imagining the future, why not imagine the best possible outcome?”
In Aggressive Pursuit of Joy
for Lesley
by Danielle Coffyn
Andrea Gibson once said joy is a muscle
you build by dancing when you’re inclined
to stay in bed. My friend survives a blood clot
& falls in love with living. Welcomes wrinkles
& silver strands. Bench presses sunshine,
azalea, stargazing in the desert. Some seasons
we cannot escape biopsy results, bad bosses
& unpaid bills, sobbing every morning
in the shower. Pain is the currency of existence.
If each new day is unknown, why not spend
our time in aggressive pursuit of joy?