So My Passion Doesn't Burn You - a spoken word poem.

Someone said journaling

is just another kind of navel-gazing,

attaching guilt to this activity.

Then I see

I’m more Peaceful Person than Steam-rolling Babbler

when I put half my words on paper

and not in people’s ears or bottling them up where

they bulge out my eyes and wrestle for air

then punch me in the throat.

In TV’s Parks & Rec, I’m the Leslie Knope:

mission-minded leader yet

steam-rolling pusher to get

what she wants, not listening when she’s upset, 

but not intentionally mean. She’s just passionate.

That’s it, passionate. 

My passion is like an eager waiter rushing to serve you

a mug of hot coffee filled to the brim,

meant to be

invigorating, pleasant, filling,

but when hustled to you, it sloshes and spills-

sloppy, painful, unwanted,

a mess in your lap

instead of a warmth in your belly

so that I wish I’d never brought it to you

at all. 

That’s why I journal,

so my passion doesn’t burn you and all

I touch but keeps doing good

while staying where it should.

Some people run to live, some ride to live-

well I, I write to live 

at peace in my own mind and body,

passionate yet wise in community.

-Ellen H.