When the Good Stuff Comes - Noticing Art and Hate in True Life

When the good stuff comes,
you sit in the corner
recalculating.

You stand
on the curb waiting for the light
to change and invite the cold to
hold still.

You yell from
the bleachers. You walk
the sidewalk until it's sand
and gravel. You take in the air
of cigarettes and welcome-to-it
I-need-a-little.

When the good
stuff comes, you run, you talk,
you fight, you listen, you stop.

When the good stuff comes,
the car radio blanks out and you're
ready for it like a born
runner easing into place --

like the child who knows seven times
three makes 21 -- like the woman who,
after a lifetime

of privilege, decides not to hate
herself, but turn it to injustice
for once.

Copyright Louise Robertson