By Libby Hawkins, TIWP Student

“I have a right to collaborate with creativity. I’m on a mission of artistic liberation, so let the girl go.”  ― Elizabeth Gilbert

Let the little girl go.
Let the older girl go.
Let the girl (who was almost a woman) go.
Let the little boy go.
Let the older boy go.
Let the boy (who did not want to be a boy) go.

I could sit here and write about all the tragedy
I have experienced.
I could sit here and write about how hard it is to believe
and even harder to understand.
I could write about how difficult it is to be motivated
when you never know.

But instead,
I’m going to write about the good
that came out of the worst.
I’m going to write about how
I am going to live,
for all those who couldn’t.