My Kind Of People

I will not be tethered to gossip, small-talk or facades,

Let me speak instead of my messiness -

My humanness

The realness I carry like weathered skin

Let me be vulnerable

And silly

Let me be raw, true, and imperfect

So I may find deeper connection

My kind of people are the ones who bring comfort to the gathering 

Who laugh and cry,

Who dance

Who strip away any pretence and show their true hearts

I don’t care what they wear

Or how much they weigh

Or the twists and the turns of their lives

Let them come as they are 

With all their stories

And wisdom

And their wonder too

These are my kind of people

Alive in their original truth 

Honest, open and kind

Even to the birds and the animals

We gather not in perfection 

But by the warmth of belonging to ourselves 

and each other

By Tanya Cameron