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Project OWL: Options in Writing & Learning
Disability Services Writing Center Project

 

A project jointly developed and sponsored by ODS and the Barnard Writing Center


 

Imperfection

I am falling in love
     with my imperfections
The way I never get the sink really clean,
forget to check my oil,

lose my car in parking lots,

miss appointments I have written down,

am just a little late.

I am learning to love
    the small bumps on my face
    the big bump of my nose,
    m
y hairless scalp,
chipped nail polish,
toes that overlap.
Learning to love
    the open-ended mystery
        of not knowing why

I am learning to fail
    to make lists,
   
use my time wisely,
    read the books I should.

Instead I practice inconsistency,
    irrationality, forgetfulness.

Probably I should
hang my clothes neatly in the closet
all the shirts together, then the pants,

send Christmas cards, or better yet
a letter telling of
    my perfect family

But I'd rather waste time
listening to the rain,
or lying underneath my cat
     learning to purr.

Elizabeth Carlson