Brevity and I have an estranged relationship. It started a while back, well way back When I lacked letters and confidence He told me I was safe In my silence. Juggle just a few letters At a time he said And offer only when asked He told me some letters were mean too I heeded his word
Things were ok Until I met more letters that were bold and beautiful Kind, gentle and inspirational They had personalities and wanted me to introduce them to others They said I could use as many of them as possible especially if I wanted to change the world They made me feel good inside and courageous They liked me and I liked them so I not only wrote them, I spoke them in whispers and with vocal variety They hung out on white pages, power napped on colorful notepads and danced inside of vibrant journals They drew me in and told me things about myself, things I never knew In fact, I more than liked them, I fell in love with them I used them often in conversations with myself and others When they were available I spoke them on quiet nights and in noisy classrooms, it didn’t matter because we were good friends Occasionally Brevity got jealous especially when my confidence increased Said I was getting out of hand Said I needed to settle down Said people felt left out because I had so many letters I told them it wasn’t my fault, letters offered themselves up freely All you have to do is go get them
Decades went by and one day I ran into Brevity at a conference He asked about my adventures with letters and I told him I was, we were fine. While there, I noticed there were so many people with so many letters that they wrote and spoke all day. All day for eight to ten hours each day. I grew tired. I grew exhausted. I noticed myself using letters less and invited Brevity to lunch We talked. Briefly, I reflected on his impact in my life And decided he wasn’t so bad at all He asked if we could be friends again I said sure but we don’t have to hang out all the time.
Chiquita R N Toure