Start Close In (1 of 10)

Amidst all the social media challenges, I’ve decided to make up my own 10-day commitment. It’s 10 influential poems in 10 days.

Day 1: Start Close In by David Whyte

This poem has impacted me more in the last 5 years than any other writing. The idea of starting right where you are — “start with the ground you know” — has been providential for me. The invitation to give up on the questions and expectations that others have for me and start with my own voice has been both challenging and liberating. This poem is both comforting and challenging, easy and difficult, freeing, and provoking.

Start close in,

don’t take

the second step

or the third,

start with the first

thing

close in,

the step

you don’t

want to take.

Start with

the ground

you know,

the pale ground

beneath your feet,

your own

way to begin

the conversation.

Start with your own

question,

give up on other

people’s questions,

don’t let them

smother something

simple.

To hear

another’s voice,

follow

your own voice,

wait until

that voice

becomes an

intimate

private ear

that can

really listen

to another.

Start right now

take a small step

you can call your own

don’t follow

someone else’s

heroics,

be humble

and focused,

start close in,

don’t mistake

that other

for your own.

Start close in,

don’t take

the second step

or the third,

start with the first

thing

close in,

the step

you don’t

want to take.

START CLOSE IN, in River Flow New & Selected Poems

Many Rivers Press ? David Whyte