A smile like a sunbeam shining light
on a man who’s almost lost himself.

A perfectly timed text to distract you
from the negative spaces closing in.

A random invitation like an ethereal hand
hoisting you up from the latest rock bottom.

A poignant song to reconnect you
with the parts of yourself
that still want to live.

Today, I’m thinking about the people
who didn’t have any of those things
in the final battle.

How two sides of forever exist
in a moment flicked like a switch.

How studies show men are far less likely
to seek help for the issues they struggle with.

How fear of appearing weak or unstable
cracks the very foundations they’re built upon.

How every statistic
is somebody’s tragedy.

How June, among other things,
is also Male Mental Health Awareness Month
and has been called so for three decades
so tell me why I just heard about it for the first time.

Why do these conversations remain so difficult
despite the mountains of data at our disposal?

Do the words ‘suicide awareness’ not beg
some degree of contemplation?

A Facebook post floats across my feed:
Sorry I’ve been out of touch lately.
Going through divorce.

I’m crying in the workplace locker room
where anybody can see
because I don’t want to tell people I’m fine anymore.

I’m writing this poem
as much to myself
as I am to everybody else.

Poetry for failures
because someone out there
feels the exact same ways that I do
except they have a handle of liquor in their gut
and a loaded gun in their lap.

So please,
please reach out if you feel the walls are closing in–
they’re easier to push back if we work in numbers.

Or if you’re in a stable place,
smile at someone, send a random text,
extend an invitation, share your favorite songs.

Find a way to fight
wherever you’re at on the battlefield
especially if you’re in a spot
where the ranks are breaking.

And maybe it’s there
that I discover
I have yet more to learn.

That there are things
I still get wrong
in my own mind.

This hasn’t been poetry for failures.

It’s actually poetry for fighters.

Fighters 
who maybe haven’t found their successes yet
who just need another fighter beside them to say
I want to see you tomorrow

to give them that gentle nudge
to make it through one more day.

I want to see you tomorrow
because you light up every room you’re in.

I want to see you tomorrow
because the journey does get easier
no matter how impossible that may seem right now.

I want to see you tomorrow
because the world
is so much better
with you still here

fighting side-by-side 
with all the rest of us.