Perfectly Imperfect

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."