04/17/2026
Here’s the thing
no one tells you
until your mascara's half-cried off
and you’re knee-deep
in peanut butter cups
wondering if anyone
has ever actually survived
being human:
You don’t heal
by pretending it didn’t happen.
You don’t grow
by faking serenity.
You certainly don’t evolve
by out-optimisming
the dumpster fire.
No, love pie.
You get better by sitting down
next to the thing
you swore you’d never touch—
the grief,
the shame,
the blistered ache you carry
from being alive and awake
in this world
with a soft heart
and armor made of empathy.
You scooch over
on the picnic bench
or the bar stool
and let the worst parts of you
sit down.
You offer them a cup of tea.
You don’t fix them.
You don’t sage them.
You just say:
“Well hell, I guess we’re in this together.”
And somehow,
by the grace of mismatched socks
and second chances,
the ache starts to breathe.
The jagged bits
don’t jab so hard.
You remember
you’ve always been a little holy
and a lot stubborn,
a little feral
and sometimes kind
and maybe that’s enough.
Radical acceptance isn’t sexy.
It’s not an Instagram filter.
It’s more like hugging a porcupine
because it’s lonely
and so are you.
But it’s the doorway.
It’s the cracked-open window
where Love sneaks in
with a bag of tacos
and says,“Let’s start here.”
**********************
poem by Angi Sullins - from "The Fragile and the Fierce" FREE SHIPPING : https://angisullins.com/shop-3-2/
This page is my tribe's Red Tent Blanket Fort, and I write to find all the misfits and weirdos who belong in here with me. We have snacks. Spread the word! More about the fort: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1393715445036560&set=pb.100031943546696.-2207520000&type=3
Times are dicey out there, friends, and free speech has gotten quite expensive. Please stay in touch with me by joining my mailing list here https://angisullins.com/get-your-muse-letter-2/. It’s the way I can reach you to tell you about public appearances, live readings, and any chance we have to get together as a tribe in person. It’s the best way to keep our independence in tact and the power to communicate alive, protected from being silenced.
Art by Omar Rayyan
