I don't actually write poems but I wrote this poem anyway after a brief but inspiring discussion last night with a colleague. Thanks Bill for your support and inspiration.
Sing With the Voice You Have
“Sing with the voice you have,” he told me.
Sing even though it makes you feel like a grounded plane some days.
Disregard the cracks in your voice because they are really the cracks in your soul
And slivers of silver light escape and dance for us.
He quoted the passage “the forest would be a quiet place if only the best birds sang”
And I thought of the 86 year old man on an oxygen machine singing Fix You by Coldplay.
Sometimes the only thing we have to offer is our pain.
Sometimes it is our sweetest song.
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5 comments:
Indeed!
That's the voice I want to hear, Carla -- your song, your voice, where you are, wherever you are.
And it both challenges and inspires me be where I am, singing the song of my life in my own messy, imperfect, human, offkey, real voice.
Love,
Allison
Carla, it's a beautiful poem. Real and loaded with reality, deeply human, poignant and funny. I sound like a husky frog at the present moment, but from where I sit I am singing to you, "I got sunshine...on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside--I got the month of May..."
(I'm impressed by the old guy who was hip enough to be listening to Coldplay. I am stuck like an Edsel in the mud, in the seventies...)
Love,
Ali
I would say that you actually do write poems now Carla -- damn good ones.
My kids would say they'd prefer the quiet forest to the one populated with birds that sound like me, but your poem has inspired me to keep chirping anyway... "ow-ooooo werewolves of London..."
Love,
Kathy
Carla
The songs you sing with the voice you have, be it the voice of your blog, the voice of your pain, the voice of your heart filled with love, or the voice of your music- give you the power to change people!
Even the readers who don’t send you their lists are privately, quietly, shyly, writing them, painfully allowing exquisite joy to enter their now defenseless body fortress. Your voice enables us to find the courage to reach deep within this fortress-ourselves- and heal the broken parts. Those parts that, until you and your voice happened along, prevented us from ever discovering “the pure love” you sing about.
This priceless gift you give and we receive is the power your song has.
Love from a heart “cracked open”in
Helen’s daughter
Hey Carla: I used to write angsy teen poems, maybe I'll start writing angsty middle aged poems. It's been a long time since our lives (or our children's) diverged, but I wanted to shout out to you. I wanted to think up a bucket list item - but I'm drawing a blank. I've had my life on hold for the last few months with a hip reconstruction surgery and I'm just looking forward to getting life back to normal - like driving and walking without this damn crutch!Keep writing.
Laurie A. in Albany (Lani's Mom)
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