May 4, 2025

here’s to the kids who live / in us and never leave

Sometimes, when I am feeling particularly overwhelmed by the ways in which the powerful are cruel and vindictive to those with much less, I turn to acts of service.

You can buy books for young people in juvenile detention? (These are not great places.)

You can send letters and cards of support to trans folks through organizations like Point of Pride.

You can give money to food banks near you (in NYC; in California). You can donate money to diaper banks or to domestic violence shelters.

When in doubt, show up for a stranger. In any way you can.

Attribution

here’s to the kids who live
who live and dare us
stand a side
may they embarrass us
show us who we are
here’s to the kids who live in us and never leave
resting in the dimples of a mirror
stretching through a glance
how many kids must die for us to live?
here’s to the kids who live in us
to the kids who live and demand
we act
in the doing
here and now
awestruck and unafraid
— from for the kids who live by aja monet (Listen)