waking instructions...

This morning I was reading in What Have You Lost, a wonderful anthology edited by Naomi Shihab Nye. It’s a helpful tool for teaching, but also for my own writing.

An interesting poem from Emma Mellon that, for me at least, is a survival manual – In a few lines she captures the intimidating spaces between life-moments. This poem is all about possibility, and I’m drawn to that. Her word choice is effective. A small piece of perfection in the wall of literature –

Waking Instructions


Crawl ashore
to the damp beginning of day.

Forget before and after.

Allow yourself
to be spelled differently.

It will feel like falling.

It has waiting attached.

–Emma Mellon