Acts of Courage and Dirty Feet

From the ocean in Ghana, West Africa to a Zen Center bathroom

Here are two fun sassy poems to get your weekend off to a great start. They were written when I was 17 and 19, full of spunk and wildness. One was written in a Zen Center bathroom and the other by the ocean in Ghana, West Africa. Enjoy!

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Acts of Courage

It takes courage to poop
to wait for the plop
knowing the smell may offend others

It takes faith 
that your body
will expel what it does not need

Mostly now I poop alone
For 80 days in the Amazon 
I had a poop pal

Jane Randolph McNeal
That's her real name
She's the kind of person

Who'd allow her name
to be in this poem
We dug holes

Through dirt and twigs and leaves
Sometimes it was sand
Sand meant

We didn't need to take the shovel
We knew we were pooping 
but we didn't want the others to know

While we pooped 
we never spoke of pooping
Discussion came later

Alone and together
around the world
people are pooping

We all do it
We all share this courage
This faith

Why wast energy
pretending to be a person
who does not poop?

Written in the San Francisco Zen Center bathroom, age 19

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Dirty Feet

The waves were sucked into the rocks
Willing crashing
Shattering with riotous laughter

As the curls swept across the ragged stones
That so easily could kill
But these powerful waves showed no fear

Caressing the jagged edges
Until they became smooth
Warn down

Only the most courageous 
And abandoned splash 
Would result in the death of a drop

Lost on the rocks
To dry valiently in the sun
My admiration was for the fearlessness

The way the waves listened
And called out for my body
To bathe

In its sweet filthy curls
The promise of baptism
The promise of bathing in this trash filled

Utterly flawed ocean
The ocean of disaster
The ocean of desire

Calling me 
Begging me
To accept

Its beauty
Without wanting to clean away the imperfections
And the waves crash down

Sweeping forward
Whispering from far away
Beckoning for me to jump in

Share my ugliness
Flaunt my dirty feet
Clean them in this ocean of trash

And love with abandon
The ocean
Simply because I do

Reguardless of the trash
Because I don't get to choose what I love

Written by the ocean in Ghana, West Africa, age 17