Life’s Art

Verse · Justin McDermott

A poem by Justin McDermott about listening, recovery and learning to carry, shape and hold life as art.

Read as text

They told me it was no good—
the voices,
the dark,
the doubt.

I drifted far from myself
and was named by other mouths.

But still something remained.
Not certainty.
Not ease.
A pulse.

Then came people
who listened without closing the door.

And I began to see life
not as something to fix,
but something to carry,
shape,
and hold
as art.