<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">These Awkward Efforts To Be Alive<b class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></b></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">These awkward efforts to be alive, <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">to wade, through our own debris,<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">toward shore, toward other people, <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">we take too seriously. <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">Our ships wreck, and we survive;<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">our hearts, stolen by pirates, <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">are not ransomed; but we<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">cannot weep forever for these lost things.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">The sea, not the ship, is our mother. <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">The waves are never clumsy.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">They know when to break,<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class="">to give up, to go back. <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Jim Tipton<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in;" class=""> </div></div></body></html>