The Good, The Bad, and The Average

Mother,

The day you told me to find my ‘Spirit Tribe’

was the day I realized you might be a little insane.

Mostly what I remember of that moment

was looking down from the third-floor balcony

wondering

how many people have spit off of it

at the people below.

Until you said those words.

Spirit Tribe.

What could yuo possibly know about that?

Just fifteen minutes earlier

when a fat poorly-dressed stranger

put his arms around both of us,

I pushed him off

and you  insisted

I was rude

and he was just being nice.

A few hours before that

as I cried on the streets of Nashville

after I was scolded by a security guard

for talking on my phone

in front of the restaurant

with an unexceptional band playing inside,

a kind man in a pinstripe suit

offered me his crisply folded handkerchief

And here you were

telling me what to look for in a person

as you complained

about the fact that my step-father wore gym shorts to Olive Garden.