Validate Them

If you’ve an artist in your life,
be they poet, painter, dancer, or designer,
validate them.

Praise them without ambiguity.
Pre-emptively clarify confusing compliments.

Hug them after they show you their creations,
because it’s then that they are most vulnerable.

Having shared their soul,
they stand before you raw,
silently begging for acceptance,
desperately hoping that they’ve done enough.

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This poem is inspired by the book How To Write Evocative Poetry