Bukowski

Bukowski said,
‘What matters most
is how well
you walk through the fire.’
I feel like
I’ve been walking through the fire
for the last
22 years.

Don’t get me wrong,
I am privileged.
I know others
have it worse than me.
But when your mind
is the fire
it becomes harder
to keep walking.

And yet
somehow
I do.
Day by day,
hour by hour,
self-imposed crisis
by self-imposed crisis,
I walk.

If I don’t stop
moving,
I’ll be okay.

Photo by Rachel Ruquet on Unsplash

Written by 

Gretchen Corsillo (she/her) is a librarian and writer living in the greater NYC area. She holds a B.A. in Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing from Ramapo College and a Master's in Library & Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Gretchen is the author of a bimonthly column for Public Libraries Magazine, and her work has also appeared in Salon, Feminine Collective, Sad Girl Diaries, and the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Blog. She is currently working on a novel. Find more of her work at gretchencorsillowrites.substack.com.

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