The Necessary Violence

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Such irony

that through a thousand

tender deaths

we reach

effulgence.

Slay with kindness

all that stands

in the way

of the love your soul

already knows.

May your heart only harbor

the necessary violence

of specificity, as it chooses

love over hate and

an embrace over judgment.

Never lose

your Grandmotherly Eyes,

as you look

over all before you.

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Avery Grace (they/them) is a queer/trans/sex worker poet and writer living on unceded lands of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, otherwise known as Bend, OR, and formerly of New Orleans. Find their work in their debut book of poetry, "Laid Bare" as well as, "Non-Binary: An Anthology of Gender and Identity," and “All of Me: Stories of Love, Anger, and the Female Body”. Keep up-to-date at averybraverygrace.com and on Instagram @averybraverygrace.

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