these particular truths

Coffee is better with sugar.
An apple will be more likely eaten sliced.
Even clouds call for sunscreen.
Water makes the headache go away eventually.
There are too many keys on the keychain, doors
no longer yours to unlock.
Altitude will make you tired.
The doctor's bill will make you grumpy.
You could always use more sleep.
The silence of a deserted road is therapy.
October turns you inside out.
Novembers brings you home.
A new city is an exercise in both containment
and sprawl. The last mile of bike ride makes you wistful.
Maple syrup rewinds the clock.
A belly needs fire.
A body needs touch.
Your longing needs a place to land, however briefly.
Medium rare is open to interpretation.
Disagreement is a prism of insight.
It is alright if you have no idea, exactly.
what you want.
The drive will do you good.
No is a yes to something else.
Detours are where the best photographs are.
Your mind is a busy anthill.
Your heart is an obstacle course,
a moonscape of disaster and hope.
Your heart is an army, a cross-examination,
gridlock, a kitchen sink, a hobo
thumbing a ride on the interstate.
Words will take you to the edge,
but it's you who has to leap.
The wail of a harmonica is lonelier than you are.
A hotel room is more forgettable than you are.
The signs on the highway are not metaphors.
Fortune cookies are not instructions from above.
What you know, you know.
Monday is a beginning.
Tuesday and Wednesday are beginnings.
And down the line.
Starting over is an illusion but it is also the truth.
Rice and butter take the pain away. Ice cream
is less effective.
Your mother wants to help.
Your sister sees right through you.
Sunsets are the veil between what was and what is.
You never know until you ask.
You will always be afraid to ask.
Fear is a sign of life, not death.
Your lungs carry grief.
Your lips carry tenderness.
Your legs carry freedom.
You are capable of amazing things.
You are capable of fucking up.
You are capable of forgetting where you are,
what you meant to say, who you were looking for,
what you had hoped to accomplish.
You are capable of stilling your earthquakes,
dismantling your doubt, quenching your sorrow
and saving your soul.
Every vote counts.
Dreams merely offer an alternative.
You will do it when you are ready.
Instinct isn't always pretty, but it's usually right.
Your skin is probably too dry.
Your eyes are probably bigger than your stomach.
Your wildness is probably bigger than you care to admit.

Nevertheless.
You are who you are and
you are doing what you can.
You are doing what you can.