Poetry Friday: Weight

a pep talk? and a poem

Hello friends.

Have you ever found yourself in a spot in your life where physically things are the same as they always have, but there is a sort of uncomfortable rattle underneath the surface? Feels like some part of you is dying or stepping away and you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know things are about to change?

I think that’s what’s been happening to me lately. There is this feeling of standing at a funeral that I can’t quite shake. Old whispered remnants of me that no longer work out for where I’m trying to go and yet, current me is standing there wearing black in the rain knowing that there are lessons from the past that must be honored and carried forward.

If past me were another person, I'd be building a monument in her name… and maybe that's exactly what I'm doing. What I know is that I cannot stay the same and still accomplish what I hope to accomplish. I may not even be the woman I need to be yet to run an artist residency and homestead but I know I'm closer than I've been. I know what it feels like to make braver, bolder moves. Fear still stands in the room but it does go quiet, at least for a moment, when I choose to take action. That feels like progress.

That version of me that thought that anxiety and fear and sadness and depression meant that there was something wrong with me and I should just stay where I was or leave entirely seems like a memory now and less like my current reality. My proof is the community. The more I talk with artists and creatives and humans in general, the more I realize that every single person on the planet goes through the same emotions. We all feel fear, we all feel sadness, and we probably all have felt some form of depression at some point. These are human traits. And they are also traits that make the world continue to move, and art beautiful and words speak. They cannot be separated from each other.

And though for a solid decade or more, I have had the mantra that “feelings aren’t inherently bad, they’re data,” I have still been treating them like a boss. And it is just now that I’ve opened my eyes to realize just how much power I was giving them. It wasn’t until I started to really talk to artists and creatives again that I realized that you can, in fact, feel the feelings and still move in your best interest despite what the feelings are telling you.

I want to be clear that intuition is different than feelings in the way that I’m talking about it. Because I still very much respect my intuition. That is something that I’ve honed intentionally, especially in the last five years, quite a lot. I think everyone should spend at least a little time practicing and listening to their intuition regularly. Being able to decipher, what’s your intuition and what’s the voice of fear is very important skill but I digress.

I say all this so that hopefully you, the reader, can feel less alone in your own journey wherever that may lead you. I say this as a reminder that you are having a human experience in a world trying so badly not to be human. That I think what makes us different from other beings on this planet is our ability to decipher and change ourselves while doing our best to communicate that in a conscious manner, i.e. the arts.

I want you to know that you’re not alone. That you’re not broken. That you are lovely. It's okay to feel what you feel. And it's just as okay to carry that feeling with you while still taking a step that doesn't quite match it. Because sometimes feelings can keep us very stuck. We can learn how to honor and acknowledge them without letting them rule our every move. We can honor ourselves exactly where we are, and still find our way toward how we would like to move in the world.

And we can do it together. So if you needed this today… thank you for being here. I appreciate you more than you know.

Keep creating! Love yo face.

P.S. I rarely post a poem that isn’t finished but this one felt important. I can’t necessarily tell you it’s incomplete… but I don’t think it’s finished with me if you know what I mean. Either way, please enjoy.

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Weight

I can see the weight on her set further

As she once again figures out how to fix yet
another broken thing

The lines on her forehead deepen
Canyons between her eye brows
Shoulders dripping foreward

An almost woeful sigh
silently escaping her lips
Like a constant coastal breeze

Another fix
Another thing

She’ll tell you she loves her
independence
Empowered by her ability to care
for herself & others around her

The crown pushing further
into the top of her head
Responsibilities slipping slowly over her eyes

Tired. Proud.
Living. Sore.

…

©MJ Coppola, July 1st, 2026

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Thank you for spending your time with these words. Writing is how I make sense of the knots and the beauty of this life. I hope this piece met you somewhere real. If it sparked something, let me know in the comments. I collect echoes. And if you know someone who might need this, share it.

**Ways to support my work:**

- Confidence Is a Verb ebook - $11.11
- $30 AMA on StanStore (ask me anything, I’ll send you an answer and/or a pep talk)
- Become a paid subscriber
- Buying me a coffee
- Share with a friend

Every bit helps me keep creating. Thank you for being here.