This Too is Work
We forget that this too is work
Humans are the only species
That does not instinctively retreat
During moments of transformation
To be enfolded and evolving is
Exhausting and vital and consuming
No other creature tries to carry on
With life as usual when cocooned
For shedding skin or growing wings
Of course, you are worn weary
This work of becoming
Is enough
Emerging into the person
You were going to be
Before the world told you who you had
to be
Throwing that off like dead skin
Walking about raw and exposed
While the new is not yet grown
Over your bones and muscles
Is stunning work
The holiest work you will ever do
And If some mundane tasks
Fall through the cracks in this moment
Let them
You may have no need of them in your
new form
May find you can release many of the
things
You were so afraid to lose
You simply have no idea all you will
create
With the shining pieces the shattering
Made all about you
You simply can’t imagine hands
Once hesitant to lift
To ask permission or a question
Will rise to create a universe
You simply don’t know --
How can you?
When you are pulled apart
By currents of your own creation
Dying being born
Remembering
Your own
Divinity
Humans are the only species
That does not instinctively retreat
During moments of transformation
To be enfolded and evolving is
Exhausting and vital and consuming
No other creature tries to carry on
With life as usual when cocooned
For shedding skin or growing wings
Of course, you are worn weary
This work of becoming
Is enough
Emerging into the person
You were going to be
Before the world told you who you had
to be
Throwing that off like dead skin
Walking about raw and exposed
While the new is not yet grown
Over your bones and muscles
Is stunning work
The holiest work you will ever do
And If some mundane tasks
Fall through the cracks in this moment
Let them
You may have no need of them in your
new form
May find you can release many of the
things
You were so afraid to lose
You simply have no idea all you will
create
With the shining pieces the shattering
Made all about you
You simply can’t imagine hands
Once hesitant to lift
To ask permission or a question
Will rise to create a universe
You simply don’t know --
How can you?
When you are pulled apart
By currents of your own creation
Dying being born
Remembering
Your own
Divinity
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Rachel Loughlin
Rachel Loughlin graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University where she received the Undergraduate Poetry Award. She is a graphic designer, eternally optimistic gardener, runner, muralist, and writer living in Richmond, Virginia. Rachel explores the intersections of nature, sensuality, and deconstructed spirituality through her poetry. Her work appears in Pure Slush Books, Green Ink Poetry, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Paddler Press, Flora Fiction Literary Magazine, Musing Publications, and Kind of a Hurricane Press.
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