Wednesday, August 16, 2006


Poetry Thursday:

Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Take the contradictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.
Watch the people succumb
To madness
With ample cheer;
Let them look askance at you
And you askance reply.
Be an outcast;
Be pleased to walk alone
(Uncool)
or line the crowded
river beds
with other impetuous
Fools.
Make a merry gathering
On the bank
Where thousands perished
For brave hurt words
They said.
Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast
Qualified to live
Among your dead......

By Alice Walker

Another I like is

Exhaust the little moment.
Soon it Dies.

And be it Gash or Gold
it will not come

Again in this identical disguise.

Gwendolyn Brooks

I chose these two poems for this weeks prompt because Sat was my late fathers Birthday and Monday was my late moms Birthday. I guess there is a point in all our lives where there is a Before and After for me it has been this year with the lose of my last parent. Experiencing so much loss it has taught me this. I have an embarrassment of riches which other generations before me only wished to have and I am not very rich at all. I have over these last four years learned that Life is the Destination and the journey is the most special part and that there is no dress rehearsal. I and we all only get one chance and we all need to make it count. Anna Quindlen says it most eloquently "Today is the only guarantee any of us get."

2 comments:

Darlene said...

Great selections for today.

I love your revelation about living life now and the attitude we should have.

I'm sorry this last year was so rough and that you live with pain too.

Lifting you up today, even with my weary arms...thank you for underatanding and it's very nice to meet you :)

xxx d

Laini Taylor said...

Hi Yolanda! I love that Alice Walker poem.

As for your question about permalinks for Sunday Scribblings, if you go to the righthand column of your blog and click on the right post under "Previous posts", it will load as its own separate page. Then you can copy the url from the top of the page and paste THAT into the Sun Scrib comments. For instance, your permalink to your latest post is:

http://perfectlyimperfect-yolanda.blogspot.com/2006/08/poetry-thursday-be-nobodys-darling-be.html

I hope that helps!

(And welcome to Oregon soon)