For a girl who spends most of her time feeling
a bit out of place, just slightly out of pace, it is remarkable
when the time comes that everything feels just right.
In this moment, life—which often feels two sizes too small—
is a perfect fit, and every awkward second up to now
has actually been perfectly in sync with my destiny.
All those pinpoints in my timeline, all the memories
to which I cling, occurred precisely at their proper times,
and all that yearning for bygone times was not covetousness,
but rather those moments were guideposts to signify
the congruity of my path. And it doesn't even matter that,
with the tick of the second-hand, that delightful sense
of alignment is eviscerated by the relentless beast
of my doubt, because, even if my surface thoughts
are relegated to this common denominator, I think
at least the minutest shred of my consciousness
remains irrevocably seated in that transient certainty.
After all, I would never know the ill-fit of this frown,
if I had never known the splendor of a fleeting smile.
© Kerri Jenkins, 2012-2015
