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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By That I Mean, Praise<\/p>\n
By<\/p>\n
Jennifer Angelina Petro<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Take the time to look,<\/p>\n
With all reverence and wonder,<\/p>\n
At the elegant curling folds of the purple iris,<\/p>\n
Or its perfectly formed concave inner trinity,<\/p>\n
Or at the yellow daffodils<\/p>\n
Declaring spring from their ruffled trumpets,<\/p>\n
Or at the cherry blossom petals<\/p>\n
Snowing into the wind—<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Every curl, every trumpet, every petal<\/p>\n
Is different from all the rest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Exalt the vastness of variety.<\/p>\n
Why limit the god of possibilities?<\/p>\n
What exactly are you afraid of?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At least try to study\u2014and by that, I mean<\/p>\n
Praise\u2014<\/p>\n
How each and every buttercup<\/p>\n
Holds a different piece of the sun,<\/p>\n
How each and every helicopter seed<\/p>\n
Whirling from the maple tree<\/p>\n
Has its own fingerprint,<\/p>\n
How each and every pink dogwood blossom<\/p>\n
Looks like a different pink nun lying on her back<\/p>\n
Singing to the blue mantle of the sky.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If you won\u2019t invest the time, then do not<\/p>\n
Try and take away the dignity of differences<\/p>\n
And sweep them under the rug of easy things to say.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nearly all the violence in the world<\/p>\n
Stems from the delusion that sameness<\/p>\n
Is the goal, that sameness is somehow<\/p>\n
Ordained by the almighty, that somehow,<\/p>\n
Sameness means complete security,<\/p>\n
That somehow sameness brings calm.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yes, if we cut each other on the hand<\/p>\n
We both bleed red.\u00a0 Look into my eyes<\/p>\n
Before you draw the blade across my skin.<\/p>\n
If you truly saw yourself then you would put the blade away.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
These bodies, these genders, these multiplicities<\/p>\n
Of singing voices, are not a threat<\/p>\n
To your whiteness or religion—<\/p>\n
They are revelations of a power so great,<\/p>\n
So vast, that it gave birth even to you.<\/p>\n
Stand firmly in your faith–trust the providence of your god,<\/p>\n
For we are here\u2014this endless field of wild flowers\u2014<\/p>\n
Swaying in the sun, we are here announcing<\/p>\n
The god beyond the books, we are here<\/p>\n
Proclaiming the glory of medley, we are here<\/p>\n
To enunciate the one root holding us all together\u2014<\/p>\n
The one root of the right, and the majesty<\/p>\n
To exist in this boundless, unending hymn of praise.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n