the morning of the launch of my book
was like the day of my wedding
where I’d focused on planning the celebration ahead
for days and weeks before 

but on the daybreak of, i realised 
this was a time where things near and dear
to my heart, things most precious and cherished 
would be on display 

and the vulnerability of this 
well, it made me shake.

quite literally on the day that i wed 
as i posed for photos and the muscles of my smile
trembled and i had to frequently pause and breathe
to get the photos we wanted 
and the photographer wisely said
let’s just take a silly one and we pulled funny faces instead.

i love that photo still since it’s just me and my kids
letting the ‘proper’ slip and our inner weirdness out
and isn’t that vulnerable too? 

another favorite of that day is when we were caught
the six of us in our first official family hug, unplanned, unnoticed 
affection on display, exposed
a couple across an ocean now wed
four fatherless children held by strong arms.

and it was the moment when i was 
reading out poems from my beloved book
and the faces watching began to respond
and i saw the words that were mine
connecting with them, that i remembered 
vulnerability is nearly always worth it.

heather pound 2025

Photo by Jeremy Podborny