Show Up

witness, digitally enhanced 24”x24” acrylic on canvas, Brooke Summers, 2017

Show Up

Last to find myself, lost in a sea
of opportunities that look like
A parade of all the ways I don’t
Belong in the family trilogy,
Not a prodigy, nor point of pride,
Not the first, the booming voice that
moves the masses
Not the next, the off-road racing
hall of famer
The last, not more than a spectator

I chase after “my one thing”
Sprint down many paths,
Wear a million hats
Quit quickly when
Each exploration discovers

Who I’m not

Decades of chasing “it”
Shows me nothing,
Slows my chasing
more somebodies I’m not.

Defeated, I stop

Standing still in my nothing, I
Hear my heart
See my Self
One who’d rather
See what matters than
Be what matters

I feel a rush

More than a child
Standing back-to-back
I outgrow the shade,

I show up

Loving spectator,
Curious explorer
Attentive observer,

Full of courage I see,
Brilliantly clear
Everyone, everywhere
Loving, inspired, witness,

me.

Brooke Summers-Perry, 2022

spark #337