Poems to Keep You Going

an invitation to begin....

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Please visit Heidi at my juicy little universe for Roundup.

I am on a 1,000 word a day writing diet right now, as I attempt yet another draft of a middle grade novel I started in 2010! I set these 6 week writing diets for myself by carefully checking my calendar and marking off the days I know I will be traveling or otherwise occupied -- and then I get started! It helps to be realistic, and it helps me to know it will only last 6 weeks... and by the end I'll have around 35, 000 words, which is a great start for a middle grade (or any!) novel.

As of this moment I have 11,085 words in my document. Some days the words come within 45 minutes. Other days I struggle. It was on such a day that I received a Poem Swap package from Mary Lee. Among other wonderful things, it included this poem:


Don't Go There
by Mary Lee Hahn

Don't bother to fight back
when your brain says,
"You can't."

You've heard those words before.
You know that success lives
in their backyard.

Get up from your desk,
pet the sleeping cat,
stand at the open door,
watch the rain sheet down,
breath the warm wet air.

Then get back to work again.

---------------------
Yes, yes, and YES! Just the words I needed then, and today, and most days, actually. Mary Lee also sent me the link to this comic that is certainly on the theme! Thank you, Mary Lee! And here are a couple more poems to keep you going:


Mother to Son
by Langston Hughes

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

------------------------------

Speaking of Langston Hughes, have you heard about the efforts to turn his Harlem home into an arts collective? Read the latest here.

------------------------------

Don't Quit 

By Edgar A. Guest (maybe!)

When Things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and debts are high,
And you want to Smile but have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he'd stuck it out,
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the struggler has given up,
When he might captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown,

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

--------------------------

Whichever way this arrow is pointing
is the "right" way.

The above poem appears in my father's file of his favorite quotes. We had a conversation about a month before he died, just after he fell and broke his hip. He was saying how sad it was that he fell, because he had been having such a good day! But he wasn't giving up. He wasn't ready to go yet. And I was telling him how much I have always loved and admired his Florida "cracker" spirit... but that I also respected those who have reached the end of their enthusiasm. We agreed on this, that it wasn't for either of us to say whether to fight or give up for anyone else. And then, just a few short weeks later, he was tired of fighting. I miss him so much, but I do respect that so, so much. Sometimes quitting is the best thing to do, the ONLY thing to do. And sometimes not!

In other words: whatever you do -- quit or don't quit -- will be just fine. You are exactly where you are meant to be. xo