The first step into mustering up courage is to develop a level of insanity.

You are brave in the face of repetition
and you will be brave the next time:
you know what they all say. Insanity is doing the same thing
over and over
all the while hoping for something different.

The second step into mustering up courage is to dive headfirst into the deep end.

The saline will claw at you
and the pebbled tears on your face will join a new, safer whole:
your hair will crust in the salted sea
and you will swallow what others have weeped
when you become brave. The moon will
peer to you
it will reach to you
through the waves
and it will fall short.
Because now, you are insane,
and no one knows your pattern.

The third step into mustering up courage is to swim.

You’re a foreigner in this city.
Your lungs are distinct in the world of gills.
You are a weary soul amongst those that live the best,
and above all,
you are brave. What have you faced
that you will not face again?
what will you see
that will not blind you?
what in the world can hurt you
when you have been hurting yourself with insanity?
salt to the wounds. Bandage the scars

Sutures. Railroad tracks down your abdomen
holes in the cavity of your chest…

The final step into mustering up courage is to know that you are hurt.

You sink to the bottom of the sea floor.
It’s dark. The moon can’t reach you
the world of tears is a world that stings
but here you are.
crying more.
but you are glad that you can.