The first poem Ray shared with me over lunch many years ago is, to this day, still my favorite. In a crowded restaurant, I asked him to read it aloud. It spoke to me immediately, and simultaneously invited me to explore its meaning further. Ray Justice is deeply curious about the human experience in all its breadth and depth. His poetry is both intimate and universal, attuning to the wonder of human connection, in its joy and heartache, and fragility and strength.
Today working with my counseling position, the poem reflects the simplicity and complexity of relationships, what we each bring and what we long to experience. In very few words, the poem opens us to risk and vulnerability, love, and loss... our human longing to be seen, to be treated with tenderness and to be loved into our fullest selves.
p.s. The first poem he shared with me; the title is “Trust.”
