(exuberant)

I have committed
my life
to loving
exuberantly.
The exuberantly
is the important
part, my daughter
says.
I remind her
of her horror
when I used
to sing up & down
the supermarket aisles.
She is coming
around & beginning
to do it herself.
Oh, these are
the moments
we wait for.

Sometimes
I have to back
my exuberance
out of someone else’s
life –
like a fork life stuck
at the end
of the aisle.
There’s a limited
supply of folks
who can hang
with you,
in exuberant love.
Exuberance is a
delicate art,
like salt is is
easily over done.
Even exuberance
has its boundaries
before you drop
off the mesa
into mania
– then people
stare.
You lose our exuberance
to despair –
& have to go home
& wait for it
to re-create itself.
You have to spend
it wisely,
and send it out
where it can be received
instead of being
cut off
at the knees.
You’ve got to
take care of your
exuberance,
like any other
natural resource.
Protect it.
Nurture it.
Foster its
development
& long life.
Exuberance
cannot survive
denial.
Except by going
underground –
a complete
contradiction
to the meaning
of its life.
Exuberance
giggles when it
meets the knowing
smile, compounds
itself like interest
when it finds
the right play mates.

11/14/99