Keep Following Your Dreams

This poem was written by Karen Ravn.

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day everyone! This week I chose to focus on a poem entitled “For the Young Who Want To” by Marge Piercy.  Her words are below:

For the Young Who Want To by Marge Piercy

Talent is what they say
you have after the novel
is published and favorably
reviewed. Beforehand what
you have is a tedious
delusion, a hobby like knitting.

Work is what you have done
after the play is produced
and the audience claps.
Before that friends keep asking
when you are planning to go
out and get a job.

Genius is what they know you
had after the third volume
of remarkable poems. Earlier
they accuse you of withdrawing,
ask why you don't have a baby,
call you a bum.

The reason people want M.F.A.'s,
take workshops with fancy names
when all you can really
learn is a few techniques,
typing instructions and some-
body else's mannerisms

is that every artist lacks
a license to hang on the wall
like your optician, your vet
proving you may be a clumsy sadist
whose fillings fall into the stew
but you're certified a dentist.

The real writer is one
who really writes. Talent
is an invention like phlogiston
after the fact of fire.
Work is its own cure. You have to
like it better than being loved.

This poem is targeted towards aspiring writers; however, I believe that its message can be applied to anyone who has hoped to fulfill a dream.  Here is what I think the poem could teach us: 

Take a minute and think about one of your biggest dreams.  Do you envision yourself receiving much recognition and many rewards if that dream were to come true? I believe that we each have a desire to do something great.  Motivated to follow our dreams, we eagerly take the initial steps, only to quickly realize that we lack the skills necessary to accomplish what we hope to achieve.  Therefore, as a result, we sometimes grow discouraged and stop striving to reach our goals. 

We often observe accomplished professionals doing or having done what we aspire to do and think that they are talented geniuses who do outstanding work.  We say to ourselves “why can’t I be more like them?”

However, we fail to recognize that what we hope to achieve will not come to term at the very beginning.  Our talent, our genius, and the greatness that we hope other people will  one day attribute to our work comes only after tons of terrible work, hard work, re-starts, patience, and persistence.  For example, if you’re an aspiring writer, your first manuscript may not exhibit a craft comparable to Toni Morrison’s books; or if you’re an amateur programmer, your first program codes may lack the sophistication of Microsoft software.  And that’s ok. 

             

Piercy tells us that in order to do what we hope to accomplish, we first have to get started and then remain working.  So what if your work stinks.  It’s fine.  Get from under the pressure of perfection.  Be messy.  Make some mistakes.  We only become really good at what we’re doing after much, much, much, much (and did I say much?) practice.      

Frida Kahlo’s first paintings probably began as simple scribbles on an easel.  Yao Ming probably missed his first 3-pointers.  Warren Buffett may have miscalculated some of his early investments.  Albert Einstein’s initial physical theories may have had a few inaccuracies.  (Do you catch my drift here?)  Those great people that we admire are really no different from us.  They too had to start from the very beginning and at one time found themselves in our shoes.     

Sweep Up Those Negative Thoughts

Last week, I forewarned all of you that I would limit the broad definition of life and perhaps narrow the scope of this blog.  I have chosen to do this by writing commentary on poems written by contemporary women poets.  This week, I have selected A New Broom by Witt Wittman:

 

A New Broom by Witt Wittmann

 
I bought a new broom today
and swept the cobwebs down,
A thick accumulation of dregs,
a mass of tangles and smut.
I whisked a conglomeration of dust
that forever stuck—inaccessible.
Lifted the rug under which was hidden
years of grime that
Made traversing treacherous
with things that trip you up.

I rolled that rug and cast it off
and pitched the whole mess out.
I bought a new broom today
and mucked about the house.

Gone are the indignities that cannot be untwined
from the unfulfilled goals and dreams,
Cleared the place of bitter resentments
secured with insecurities.
Shackling phobias, permanently pitched
with a flick of bristles strawy,
Dismal doubts and grubby grudges
all brushed not so effortlessly away.

I bought a new broom today 

and swept the corners of my brain.

I hope you enjoyed the poem!  Here’s my commentary on what I think it could teach us:

Accomplishing goals is indeed challenging.  During our climb towards achievement, we encounter numerous set backs and disappointments.  Often times, these set backs and disappointments impact the way we think and cloud our minds with negative thoughts of self-inadequacy that impede our self-motivation.  As a result, we sometimes temporarily stop striving to reach our goals.   

However, in order to jump back on track and once again go after our dreams, we must first take time to do some spring cleaning and cleanse our minds of all negative thoughts.  As Whittman suggests, we must buy a broom and clear away the cob webs of our insecurities, resentments, regrets, fears, and doubts. 

Once we have finished cleaning and can smell the sweet lemon scent of our squeaky clean minds, we will regain our self-motivation and will again be ready to tackle goal-achieving tasks.  Then, we can store away our brooms, because our negative thoughts will be long gone.  However, when our negative thoughts try to sneak up on us again, we shall have no worries; for our brooms will always be readily accessible, in the nearest closet, alert and dressed in armor, ready to perform cleaning duty once called.   

Welcome to The Poetics of Life’s Lessons!

Hello to all the poetry lovers out there! My name is Chelsea Jones, and I am a big fan of poetry.  I enjoy reading and thinking about poetry; however, I wouldn’t describe myself as a poetry critic, as I am not the one to strip poems to pieces and analyze every line of each stanza.  Although I believe that in order for one to appreciate a poem, he or she must be aware of its literary elements and interpret its meaning, I think that we oftentimes over analyze poems and ignore their primary function, which I believe is to teach us. In my opinion, we should focus more attention on the holistic meaning of a poem and how it impacts us instead of the miniature details and literary devices.  Poems, for me personally, have provided the basis by which I come to understand and interpret life.  

In this blog, my goal is to share with you some of my favorite poems and what I think they could teach us about life.  I am by no means a life expert, as I am fairly young (age 21) and have lived a rather normal life.  However, I frequently contemplate life and its wide array of topics and formulate my own theories on how people should approach and live life.  I often wonder to what extent my theories can be realized, and hopefully this blog will provide me with an answer.  

Once a week, I intend to provide you with brief commentary on one poem that I have selected.  Please note that my commentaries will simply stem from my own personal opinions and may not reflect what the author of a poem intended to convey.  At times my commentaries may include a poem analysis; however, the main objective of this blog isn’t to analyze poems but to reflect on what I think they could potentially teach us.        

I myself like to read what other writers think about various topics in order to create my own opinions on certain issues.  For those of you who like to do this as well, hopefully my selected poems and commentaries will allow you to form your own opinions about issues relating to life, rethink your previously held perceptions, and learn something that you didn’t once know. I intend for this blog to be bi-directional and a conversation between me the writer and you as readers.  So please, don’t hesitate to join this blog, read what I have written, and leave comments.  Perhaps, we can bounce ideas off of one another and simultaneously learn some of life’s lessons.  

Lastly, it’s important to inform you that this blog is essentially a class project.  I am currently taking a class called Digital Writing at Duke University, and the class is primarily focused on two questions: how to write effectively for the Internet and how technology has shaped and continues to shape the way we write today.   One of the main goals of the course is to create and maintain an idea-centered blog.  I have chosen to blog about some of life’s lessons as they can be interpreted from poems.  I realize that “life” is rather broad and may mean and include different things for various people.  Perhaps, in the near future I will limit this blog to pertain to only certain areas of life, such as relationships, self-confidence, dreams, etc, for clarity and topical purposes.  I have never blogged before, so I give you forewarning that this blog may drastically change as time progresses and more posts are added, thus I ask of your patience.  Nevertheless, I hope to provide you with some great poems and insightful commentary, and hope that you have as much fun reading this blog as I hope to have in writing it.