Finding Courage ??

Someone Recently Asked Me if I Get Writer’s Block

And I told them honestly that no, I have too many ideas and my challenge is to narrow them down. But there are times when I have a great concept that flows like molasses when I sit down to write it out.

Like this week, I was planning to write about the legacy of slavery in the U.S economy. But the words, “how to be brave” kept coming up in my mind.

Even more surprising, was that poetry, not prose came from that phrase. So, if you’ll indulge me, this week I’ll share a poem with you.

Finding Courage


Swallow this pill
Watch this video
Read this book breathe just right whisper this affirmation strike a power pose
And instantly, magically, a warm certainty
Will pulse through your chest and you will know
what to do and do it flawlessly.

If only.

Let me tell you 
how I find the nerve:
I leave the moment, just for a moment
and imagine my nieces, grown, asking me 
what I did for their future.
Sometimes I go back in time to the land 
of coconut trees and tea mountains and Marthoma churches
and tell myself that I am the son
of warriors, priests, poets and jocks.

Then slowly, painfully,
I muster the words — what others want to say
what they don't know how to say
pushes through my trembling lungs
up
out
my mouth.