Inspired by a text conversation with Spencer Gee.
“You have a lot on your plate”
a friend texted
as I apologized for asking
to reschedule plans and
getting mixed up on the details.
“I keep dropping and breaking the plate”
I typed back.
Panic was sitting in my stomach
curled up and comfy like a cat
clawing at my innards and wrapping
its tail around my chest
constricting my breathing.
I keep dropping things; how
can I keep picking them back up?
“Broken plates make for the most beautiful kintsugi”
flashed across my phone screen.
Kintsugi–broken
pottery reassembled.
New art from mistakes.
Instead of tossing shattered shards
in the trash, lovingly
gathering, gluing together
and integrating error and
imperfection into transformation.