\u201cI want you to tell me about every person you\u2019ve ever been in love with.
\nTell me why you loved them,
\nthen tell me why they loved you.<\/p>\n
Tell me about a day in your life you didn\u2019t think you\u2019d live through.
\nTell me what the word home means to you
\nand tell me in a way that I\u2019ll know your mother\u2019s name
\njust by the way you describe your bedroom
\nwhen you were eight.<\/p>\n
See, I want to know the first time you felt the weight of hate,
\nand if that day still trembles beneath your bones.<\/p>\n
Do you prefer to play in puddles of rain
\nor bounce in the bellies of snow?
\nAnd if you were to build a snowman,
\nwould you rip two branches from a tree to build your snowman arms
\nor would leave your snowman armless
\nfor the sake of being harmless to the tree?
\nAnd if you would,
\nwould you notice how that tree weeps for you
\nbecause your snowman has no arms to hug you
\nevery time you kiss him on the cheek?<\/p>\n
Do you kiss your friends on the cheek?
\nDo you sleep beside them when they\u2019re sad
\neven if it makes your lover mad?
\nDo you think that anger is a sincere emotion
\nor just the timid motion of a fragile heart trying to beat away its pain?<\/p>\n
See, I wanna know what you think of your first name,
\nand if you often lie awake at night and imagine your mother\u2019s joy
\nwhen she spoke it for the very first time.<\/p>\n
I want you to tell me all the ways you\u2019ve been unkind.
\nTell me all the ways you\u2019ve been cruel.
\nTell me, knowing I often picture Gandhi at ten years old
\nbeating up little boys at school.<\/p>\n
If you were walking by a chemical plant
\nwhere smokestacks were filling the sky with dark black clouds
\nwould you holler \u201cPoison! Poison! Poison!\u201d really loud
\nor would you whisper
\n\u201cThat cloud looks like a fish,
\nand that cloud looks like a fairy!\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you believe that Mary was really a virgin?
\nDo you believe that Moses really parted the sea?
\nAnd if you don\u2019t believe in miracles, tell me \u2014
\nhow would you explain the miracle of my life to me?<\/p>\n
See, I wanna know if you believe in any god
\nor if you believe in many gods
\nor better yet
\nwhat gods believe in you.
\nAnd for all the times that you\u2019ve knelt before the temple of yourself,
\nhave the prayers you asked come true?
\nAnd if they didn\u2019t, did you feel denied?
\nAnd if you felt denied,
\ndenied by who?<\/p>\n
I wanna know what you see when you look in the mirror
\non a day you\u2019re feeling good.
\nI wanna know what you see when you look in the mirror
\non a day you\u2019re feeling bad.
\nI wanna know the first person who taught you your beauty
\ncould ever be reflected on a lousy piece of glass.<\/p>\n
If you ever reach enlightenment
\nwill you remember how to laugh?<\/p>\n
Have you ever been a song?
\nWould you think less of me
\nif I told you I\u2019ve lived my entire life a little off-key?
\nAnd I\u2019m not nearly as smart as my poetry
\nI just plagiarize the thoughts of the people around me
\nwho have learned the wisdom of silence.<\/p>\n
Do you believe that concrete perpetuates violence?
\nAnd if you do \u2014
\nI want you to tell me of a meadow
\nwhere my skateboard will soar.<\/p>\n
See, I wanna know more than what you do for a living.
\nI wanna know how much of your life you spend just giving,
\nand if you love yourself enough to also receive sometimes.
\nI wanna know if you bleed sometimes
\nfrom other people\u2019s wounds,
\nand if you dream sometimes
\nthat this life is just a balloon \u2014
\nthat if you wanted to, you could pop,
\nbut you never would
\n\u2018cause you\u2019d never want it to stop.<\/p>\n
If a tree fell in the forest
\nand you were the only one there to hear \u2014
\nif its fall to the ground didn\u2019t make a sound,
\nwould you panic in fear that you didn\u2019t exist,
\nor would you bask in the bliss of your nothingness?<\/p>\n
And lastly, let me ask you this:<\/p>\n
If you and I went for a walk
\nand the entire walk, we didn\u2019t talk \u2014
\ndo you think eventually, we\u2019d\u2026 kiss?<\/p>\n
No, wait.
\nThat\u2019s asking too much \u2014
\nafter all,
\nthis is only our first date.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Andrea Gibson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI want you to tell me about every person you\u2019ve ever been in love with. Tell me why you loved …<\/p>\n