The Firmament by Takahiko Ishikawa
The reason I create these daily diary posts is because I want to look back and see that I filled each day of my life with beauty, that I went toward art and aliveness and creativity. What a miracle that I am here. What a miracle that I am standing after all this loss. No one will ever understand what it takes for me to choose life each day when my parents are gone.
won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.
— Lucille Clifton, "won't you celebrate with me"