Published in Ariel Chart last year.

Flaws

Think only good of me.

Forgive the cruel pangs I caused

by my lack of understanding

that one good word costs

no more than one that’s bad.

Pardon my plans never completed.

I had big dreams at times, but then…..

Excuse all the times I was loopy while waking,

when getting up was like crawling out of quicksand.

Let go of the fact

that sometimes I drank too much,

and when I did,

I used my drunken mouth to reveal secrets.

Overlook the predictably exasperating

part of me that seldom told a story

in a linear fashion.

Absolve me for my part 

in the times I lied, the times I should have lied,

not saying what I should have said either time.

Or,

my own singular condemnation of liars,

shouted in my personal dramatic fashion.

Disregard my worrying

far more than merited.

And finally, 

exempt me from the shame

of not realizing

how truly beautiful you were.