“Feeling the capacity to be,
to live,
to act,
to pour out the spirit of their souls into concrete and objective form with a high fervor born of their racial characteristics,
they glide through our complex civilization like wailing ghosts;
they spin like fiery planets lost from their orbits;
they wither and die like trees ripped from native soil.”
— excerpt from Book Three: Fate of Native Son by Richard Wright, 1940
You have to learn to get
up from the table
when love
is no longer being served.
—Nina Simone
He opened the jar of pickles when no one else could.
He was the only one in the house who wasn’t afraid to go into the basement by himself.
He cut himself shaving, but no one kissed it or got excited about it.
It was understood when it rained, he got the car and brought it around to the door.
When anyone was sick, he went out to get the prescription filled.
He took lots of pictures…but he was never in them.
—Erma Bombeck
–Zechariah 4:10
Most people think they know the answer. I am willing to admit I don’t even know the question.
–Arsenio Hall
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.
― Neil Gaiman
The Poetry Corner 