The Tiny Margin

Thinking about the tiny margin.
The margin that
Freedom maybe marched back in on. 
Holding its breath
Squeezing between the open door
And the too big car
Parked in the next spot.

The tiny margin
That democracy 
Might not have dead in. 

The margin
Is a space I've always loved. 
As a young reader
The margins where
Where I got to talk back
To my favorite writers. 
Where I learned to ask questions.

The tiny margin
Is sometimes all you need.
The way you almost said the thing
But remembered to hold your tongue.

The way you almost didn't go to that thing
And then there they were.
And now 
However many years later
Here you are
Watching democracy 
Maybe not die together.
Fingers gently resting in the tiny margins 
Between each others.
Despite it all.
Because of the tiny margin
Between doing
And not doing.

The word margin comes from
A word meaning boundary, border.
Boundaries.
The uber issue of our time. 
The Age of Boundaries. 

Entangle me this Batman.

The spectrum is all about fuzzy boundaries.
The climate crisis because we can’t get
There are no real borders.
Viruses? 
#metoo
Abortion.
Etc etc.
More to say on this
Another time.

It's possible that the tiny margin 
Of today
Isn't an accident.

The tiny margin 
Is trying to get our attention. 
It's its own thing.

We didn't win because of a tiny margin.
T

he tiny margin won.
Cherish it.

xo Beth