Taking Up Space
There are a lot of things my mother didn’t tell me
that could have saved my life.
She never told me that I was going to
have to apologize for
how much space I take up,
that my apologies must be sincere
and that I’m worth more than
the space I’d leave behind,
if I left
and that spaces don’t matter so much.
I wouldn’t think about leaving,
if she would’ve told me.

She never told me to stop falling in love
with everyone who was kind
because some people are kind to strangers
and sometimes
strangers are supposed to stay strange,
just because someone holds open the door
and says thank you sometimes,
doesn’t mean you have to get married.

She never told me that when the television says
“growing up is optional”
to not take it so literally,
and she didn’t tell me that
when I grew up,
I’d lose way more than I gained
but I could give more than I lost.

but she did teach me that
if you have to get something done,
do it

don’t wait for men to plant flowers for you
and don’t let them manage money
don’t wait for them any longer than it takes to brush your teeth

and she taught me
that people take up the same amount of space
despite how big they are.

Originally published in 2014 in The Bridge Literary Journal in Franklin, Pennsylvania.