It’s the day after the mid-term elections, but I’m writing this a few days before. Whatever we know now about results, I didn’t know as I crafted today’s prompt. Whatever results are today, or to come, the only way is forward into the new day, and then the next new day tomorrow.
I’m guessing you feel some kind of way about today and what comes after. Let your thoughts loose on the page. Dream, wonder, worry, wail—whatever words and emotions are swirling in you can be better dealt with once they are out of your head and heart, and are written down in front of you. Really, it’s true. Take a deep breath and try it.
Perhaps this poem, written by the inaugural state poet laureate of Arizona will be a starting place.
A House Called Tomorrow
—by Alberto Rios
You are not fifteen, or twelve, or seventeen— You are a hundred wild centuries And fifteen, bringing with you In every breath and in every step Everyone who has come before you, All the yous that you have been, The mothers of your mother, The fathers of your father. If someone in your family tree was trouble, A hundred were not: The bad do not win—not finally, No matter how loud they are. We simply would not be here If that were so. You are made, fundamentally, from the good. With this knowledge, you never march alone. You are the breaking news of the century. You are the good who has come forward Through it all, even if so many days Feel otherwise. But think: When you as a child learned to speak, It’s not that you didn’t know words— It’s that, from the centuries, you knew so many, And it’s hard to choose the words that will be your own. From those centuries we human beings bring with us The simple solutions and songs, The river bridges and star charts and song harmonies All in service to a simple idea: That we can make a house called tomorrow. What we bring, finally, into the new day, every day, Is ourselves. And that’s all we need To start. That’s everything we require to keep going. Look back only for as long as you must, Then go forward into the history you will make. Be good, then better. Write books. Cure disease. Make us proud. Make yourself proud. And those who came before you? When you hear thunder, Hear it as their applause.
Share your words with the Writing in Company community
I’m so glad you are here. I welcome your comments and responses and invite you to share them with this community of writers—all of us trying to use our words to pay attention to what matters. Tell us, what do today and tomorrow look like for you?
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Keep writing!