Confetti Out Of Fuckups
We make confetti out of fuckups
throw that shit into the sun
let the wind take all our bad calls
all our weird stumbles
every half-finished run
If the neighbors see us dancing
in our ruins
let them shake their heads and stare
I used to keep a secret graveyard
in my head
where every wrong move
every late reply
every drunk text
lived like a ghost that would not quit
All the missed chances
bad haircuts
awkward laughs
the nights I cried in public
and pretended it was allergies
all stacked like shit
Then one day I hit the same old wall
so hard I slid down laughing
thinking if my life
is going to keep exploding
in slow motion like this
I might as well sweep up
all the sharp little pieces
throw them in the air
and call it a goddamn
glitter-bomb kiss
Every breakup that ended
with “you’re too much”
every job I lost
for not smiling
in the right shade of beige
Every project I started
at three in the morning
high on hope and caffeine
then abandoned halfway
through the page
I stitched them into banners
hung them in my mental ceiling
like trophies from a war
I was losing to the floor
If I tripped that many times
and still walked here
maybe falling on my face
is how I learn
what I’m here for
They told me “clean it up
straighten out
make your failures small and neat”
But I was born with marching band heat
in my chest
and a need to drag my mess
out onto the street
There’s the time I quit too soon
the time I stayed too long
the party where I sang off-key heartbreak
into a stranger’s beer
The day I snapped at someone I loved
came back shaking
with apologies and ugly tears
The tattoo that did not age well
the haircut that made me look
like a villain in a low-budget flick
All those moments used to haunt me
now they’re part of the fireworks
when the plot gets thick
If you never screw it up
never take the chance
that leaves you red and raw and wrong
you might stay neat and tidy
but you’ll never know the taste
of a misstep turning into a better song
Bring your “should have known better”
bring your “I can’t believe I said that out loud”
bring your chilly little moments
that still wake you up sweating
too ashamed to tell the crowd
We will tear them into strips
and toss them high
till they’re just bright paper in the sky
Then laugh so hard
the old shame cracks
and falls away
like paint that finally peeled dry
If the story falls apart again
we’ll rip the pages
throw them too
Confetti made from every wrong step
still looks beautiful
on you