'Not Almost Anything'
(a revisiting of 'Not Quite' and 'Almost'


Years ago she'd discovered the 'fences',
the emotional designations of difference.
She had learned the significance of each...
The lands of 'Not Quite' and 'Almost'
erected them... not for protection
but perhaps because of misconceptions.
Ah, difference!
It can be embraced but also be shunned...
hurting most when one is categorized,
slipped into a pre-determined slot
of description... or only allowed to look,
to wonder, to wish for acceptance.

'Not Quite' was the land of vision
while 'Almost' was the land of visual emptiness...
and she stood between them... neither
embracing her, both labeling her
as 'not quite' but 'almost' or 'almost'
but 'not quite'... and she still did not
always understand the 'whys' or even
the 'whats' that constituted their
decisions, their seemingly
dismissive attitudes toward her.

Years have passed and although
she now understands the 'fences',
she still wonders why they were
constructed and why can neither
land simply 'see' the shadowed
path she leads...
Why must the sighted land of 'Not Quite'
think of her as blind and the dark land of
'Almost' think of her as sighted...

Perhaps she should name this land
between the 'fences'... this border of
uncertainty and misunderstanding...
something like 'Not Almost Anything'.
Or perhaps she should just continue
straddling those 'fences' as she has been,
content in knowing she is just fine
as she is... she doesn't need to be
labeled to understand that in some ways
she is different and she accepts it...
but she is saddened at times because
they cannot 'see' how very like each
of them she really is....

Maybe one day... maybe not...
but she will continue to be just fine
accepting her differences,
embracing her similarities...
just being who she is...
'Not Almost Anything'

2011