It is always more compelling to surround yourself with equivalent emotional depth.
However, it is not necessary to choose people with the same dysfunction as yourself.
There’s so much we can learn from other types of depth and understandings.

They were large eyes, a little blue, a little green dotted with bits of brown: vari- colored, like her hair, and, like her hair, they gave out a lively warm light. “I suppose you think I’m very brazen. Or tres fou. Or something.”

“Not at all.”

She seemed disappointed. “Yes, you do. Everybody does. I don’t mind. It’s useful.”

as we sit on the phone.
Your voice shutters
and I know that you
want the best for me.
I wanted to say, “I’m sorry,”
but I know it’s not my fault.
The indelible silence speaks for us both.
Mommy and Daddy didn’t think
their kids would.. want more.
Salt rushes down my cheeks
and I lick it. This is what defeat
tastes like. You watched my academic
success as I read my first book with you.
You went to IV league schools. Dad
resented it. I would’ve been proud to be
your kid. Dad
appreciated the fights on premium television.
And…
taught me how to round house kick and..
how to take someone down from behind in
a classic choke hold. He taught me what
absence feels like, but swears he was always
there, “when I needed him.”