These are hard times right now. So much doubt. So much fear. So much isolation. I have been turning to poetry (as well as to making cookies with my kids and watching terrible movies with my wife).
I seem to have trouble concentrating on big, long things like a novel. But the form of poetry — a tad abstract with its short digestible snack-bursts — has been nourishing.
Look, we're not alone. He is not alone. She is not alone. They are not alone. We are not alone. It is not alone. I am not alone. You, my friend, are not alone. Plus, as Maya Angelou reminded me, we ain't getting out of this without each other. Here's a little bit of what she wrote, and a link to the full poem by Maya Angelou, "Alone."
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.
A little homework assignment for you: Write a poem by hand. Take a photo of it. Send it to someone who needs it. Tell them why. Ask them to do the same. These are hard times right now. Listen as closely as if your life depends upon it. We are not alone. Write to us, anytime, at listen@ttbook.org.
—Charles