Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / The Light of Poetry | Episode #396

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The Light of Poetry | Episode #396 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

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Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your Life Count.
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I'm your host, Doctor Gloria. Gloria Burgess, passionate inspirational speaker,
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author, poet, and entrepreneur. Good morning, and welcome to Legacy Living,
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Make your Life Count. I'm delighted that you joined me today. I
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want to give a big thank you to those of you who are listening today,
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and a big shout out to all of you listening around the world.
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I'm delighted and so grateful that you tuned in. I sure hope you're enjoying
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a fabulous day today and that you're having a fantastic week, because you know
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what, in the grand song of the universe, life is very short.
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It's short, sweet, and very very precious. So I hope you're making
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a difference in your own life, because when you do, you also make
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a difference in someone else's life. Now, a lot of folks want to
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make their life count for something, don't they? And they ask me,
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Doctor Gloria, how do you do that? Well, it's very simple,
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really simple. You make your life count, day by day, step by
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step, moment by moment, every single day. Three sixty five, twenty
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four seven that's what legacy Living, Make your Life Count is all about.
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Now you can learn more about legacy living Make your Life Count by visiting the
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Gloria Burgess website. That's g l O r I A b u r g
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e s s dot com. The Gloria Burgess website again, that's g l
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O r I A b u r g e s s dot com, or
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by visiting Facebook, Facebook dot com. Forward slash d R for doctor d
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r g l O r I A b U r g e s S p
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h B forward slash. Okay, I have a very special show for you
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today. Today's podcast is a celebration of poetry. Now Here in the United
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States, we celebrate poetry all month long during the month of April, which
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is quite wonderful for poets and for the rest of us. But you know
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me, I love to celebrate poetry anytime, anywhere and with anyone, including
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you. So today that's exactly what we'll do celebrate. We will celebrate poetry.
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Now you've heard me say this before. I love language. I love
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the music of it, the melody and rhythm and cadence of words. I
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also love language because words are so full of power and wonder and awe and
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mystery. Words are full of presences, the presences of space and time and
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people and places, the presences of smells and tastes and touch and memory.
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Words can be magical, mystical. Words can bless or blaspheme. Words can
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be a healing balm or hurt, like the sting of cold ice pelting against
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your skin. In fact, words really do have vitality, right, and
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soul. Words can make a difference when we are distressed, depressed, when
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we despair. Now how can that be? Because words can offer light,
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light, lucidity, illumination, and they can also bring a certain kind of
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loveliness into our world. So let's talk about light. The focus of today's
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show is all about poetry and light. Now. I've been a poet for
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a long long time. In fact, I've written several books of poems,
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and my poems are published in a number of anthologies. Over the years,
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I've developed a deep appreciation for poetry, and I now know that poems can
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be a resource for people in any setting, any context, where people are,
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and that would be just about everywhere, right, So these days I
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share poetry in schools and healthcare settings, in church in corporate settings. In
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it, I share poems with government officials, with first responders like firefighters and
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police officers, and EMTs. I share poems with financial analysts, social workers,
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with families and children in foster care, and with other artists. The
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power of poetry to renew, restore, revive, rejuvenate, to inspire,
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and to help people imagine new possibilities. You know what, the power of
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poetry is positively amazing. So again, what I'll share today is all about
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poetry and light. In many ways, the poems that I'll share today reflect
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and mirror the many threads of my life and work. In fact, you've
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heard me talk about many of these threads and themes right here on this show,
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the themes of gratitude, faith, love, creativity, imagination, integrity,
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hope, and possibility. Before we dive into the podcast, I want
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to take just a moment to welcome you. If you're just joining us,
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I'm your host, Doctor Gloria, and this is Legacy Living, Make your
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life count. I'd like to extend a special welcome to those of you who
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are joining my podcast, or if you're joining Talk Network Radio for the very
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first time. I'm so excited to have you listening in today, and I'm
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deeply honored that you've allowed me to be part of your day so you can
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be inspired by ideas and resources to make your life count. Today's program is
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all about poetry and light. And this is an invitation, an invitation to
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you to just slow down, to be still next half hour or so at
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least, right, this is an invitation to you to be attentive, to
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tune into and simply revel and rejoice in the music of your soul. You
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are in for a very special treat. Poetry invites us to pay attention,
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and to pay attention, we need to slow down now. You don't want
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to miss a single word of this podcast. So I'm going to invite you
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to grab your earbuds, find yourself a comfortable sofa or chair to relax,
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and make sure you have a nice cool glass of water next to you or
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a cup of wonderful tea or coffee. We're gonna have great time now.
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Notice today I didn't say grab your walking shoes, right, Okay, this
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is all about chilling, all about slowing down. Okay, let's walk into
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the wondrous light of poetry. The first poem today is a beautiful one by
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Langston Hughes, one of my favorite poets. This poem is called mother to
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Son, Mother to Son, well Son, I'll tell you, life for
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me ain't been no crystal stare. It's had tacks in it and splinters and
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boards torn up and places with no carpet on the floor. Bear, But
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all the time eyes been climbing on and reaching landings, and turning the corners,
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and sometimes going in the dark where there ain't been no light. So
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boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps,
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because you'll find it's kind of hard. Don't you fall now? For I
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still going, honey, I still climbing, And life for me ain't been
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no crystal spare. I just love how Langston Hughes uses the image of crystal
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stare. When I see that crystal stare, I see the luminous beauty of
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light. Now the poet uses the notion of dark, the opposite of light.
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He uses the dark so that the light of that crystal stare is emphasized,
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the light is heightened all the more. Estras Tucker, my friend and
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one of my mentors, talks about this poem in this way. Estra says,
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My life is held by the love of a mother who, despite limited
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opportunities and deferred dreams, dared to believe, care and act for the sake
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of her soul and the soul of her children and community. He goes on
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to say, the humble language of mother to son speaks to me in times
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of failure and disillusionment, as well as times of accomplishments and acceptance. As
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an organizer and facilitator, I often find my best work happens when the meeting
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is over. I know that's right. In his work as an organizer and
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facilitator, Estras once hosted a series of meetings of central City Fort Worth neighbors
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to share ideas and to improve their community. He says the ground rules were
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simple, be kind, listen well, and speak from the heart. We
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focused on two questions. The first question was what kind of place do I
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dream? What kind of place do I dream of for those I love?
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And the second question was what do I love doing great questions. Right after
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people read and reflected on their responses, which were posted on the wall,
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I invited them to speak to speak about what they had felt inspired to do.
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A community garden. Voter registration rallies, predatory lending, protests, and
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a neighborhood association all grew from those simple conversations. I remember a young man
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saying, when people listened to me, I felt like I was somebody worth
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hearing. When people trusted me, I felt trustworthy. When you open your
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heart first and then open your eyes, you see people and places differently.
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We had many gifts, we just didn't see them. Seeing these people take
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action. I don't turn back, but dare to believe, to care,
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and to act, just as my mother did, taking on life as she
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found it. I'm going to read once again that luminous poem Mother to Son
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by Langston Hughes well Son. I'll tell you life for me ain't been no
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crystal stare. It's had tax in it and splinters and boards torn up and
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places with no carpet on the floor. Bear. But all the time I've
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been a climbing on and reaching landings and turning corners, and sometimes going in
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the dark where there ain't been no light. So boy, don't you turn
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back. Don't you set down on the steps, cause you find it's kind
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of hard. Don't you fall now? For I still going, honey,
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I still climbing, and life for me ain't been no crystal spare. You
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know what, when I think about this poem, I too think about my
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own mother, the journey she's had, the steps she had to climb into
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the light, beyond being, beyond being in the world of belonging to and
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being a sharecropper's daughter. I also think of my father. His life was
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certainly no crystal stare. Now, some of you have heard me share my
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father's story on this podcast and maybe even in other settings. My father was
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the first person in his family to go to college, the first person in
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his family who dared to dream about such a thing as that. In fact,
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when he was just a little boy, four or five years old,
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he talked about two of his dreams. He wanted to live in a house
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with running water and to go to college. Now, in the nineteen thirties,
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in the Deep South of the United States, in rural Mississippi, these
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were big, bad, audacious dreams, especially for a little black boy.
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Talking about dreams like these could actually get you killed. But that didn't phaze
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my father. He talked to anybody who would listen, Yes he did.
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It didn't matter what you look like, how old you were, what walk
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of life you came from. My father passionately talked about his dreams. As
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a young man, he worked as a janitor at the University of Mississippi,
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Oh Miss. Now this was in the nineteen fifties, so he could work
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there, but he couldn't attend college there. Why because Old Myths was still
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segregated. This was before the Civil Rights movement, which would be about a
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decade later. So my father is still talking about his dreams to anybody who
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would listen, the students, the professors, the staff, anybody, anybody
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who would listen. Right, Well, one day, all of that would
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change. One of the administrators at Old Miss heard about my dad and heard
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about his dream of going to college. That gentleman met my father and asked
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him about his dreams. He fell in love with my father. That gentleman
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was responsible for introducing my dad to the person who would change his life,
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who would change my family's life for all time. And that person was Pulitzer
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Prize winning American author and Nobel laureate William Faulkner. Now, when Falkner met
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my father, he was deeply touched by my dad's faith, passion, drive,
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determination, humility, gratitude, and leadership. Faukner didn't see my father
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the way that many whites saw my dad. Now, in those days,
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my father was viewed as a black man who was way too big for his
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breeches, so to speak. But Falkner didn't see him that way. Instead,
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he saw my father the way that God saw him. He saw my
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father as a man with birthright dignity. He saw my father's humanity and divinity.
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He saw my father as a man filled with love like, possibility and
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generosity. And that's exactly how my father viewed himself. And that's how my
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father also viewed Faulkner as another human being, another man filled with love,
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light, possibility, and generosity of spirit. Now, Faulkner offered to pay
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for my father to attend college, to pay for his tuition, his room
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and board, his books, with no strings attached. Wow, pretty amazing,
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right, Well, what would you do? I mean, what would
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you do? What would you say if somebody offered you something like that?
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I mean, this was my dad's life long dream. What do you think
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he said? Well, he said, no, no, sir, I
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want to go to college more than anything. But I can't accept your generous
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offer. You see, I don't know how I could ever pay you back.
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And Faulkner looked at my dad with a twinkle in his eye, and
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he said, I don't expect you to pay me back. You just passed
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this blessing on when you're able to do so. Mercy. Who knew?
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How many of you know that God looks out for his own. That fall,
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my father enrolled at all Corn A and M. College with my mom,
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me, and my two older sisters right by his side. So my
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father's and my family's story not long ago, this story came through in words
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and images, and this amazing story that I just shared is now available as
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a children's picture book, as a visual biography that has a great book for
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people of all ages. Now, before the picture book, before the visual
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biography, before the words and images of a story book came through, God
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gave me the same story, the same arc. But he gave it to
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me in words and images and light and in the form of a poem.
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And I want to share that poem with you now. So I shared the
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story with you, so hopefully it will bring more light, more light into
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the poem for you. The poem is called sanctuary, sanctuary for my father,
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Ernest McEwan Jr. And William Faulkner. Between the brush of angel's wings
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and furious hoods of hell, two mortal men fell down. How you must
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have looked, white, shirt stained, khakis, fatigued, smelling of sweat
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and smoke, hair at odds with itself and the world at the threshold among
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your restless dead, an echo and shadow of ancient oaks providing sanctuary, offering
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shade. You had many worlds behind you, few yet to be borne,
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stories of insurgents, scorned, decay, theme and variations of a vanquished self.
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Leaning against a jam of antebellum brass, you watched, waited, raised,
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weary, arm in hand, saluted the familiar stranger, Come come,
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enter, sick sing. You reached each other across the grate. What you
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two must have known of heaven and Hell. I can picture the home where
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Faulkner lived, and it's like a light as you walk up this long red
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brick pathway. The house is painted still white, and so in the pathway
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up to the house you see this bright light of white in the paint,
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in the house, in the presences that guard the home, These ancient trees,
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these old trees lining the walkway. So the poem talks about the old,
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ancient qualities in the house. Leaning against a jam, a door jam,
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leaning against a jam of nt bellum brass, you watched way, raised,
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weary, arm in hand, saluted the familiar stranger. Come enter,
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sit sing You've reached each other across the great What you two must have known
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of heaven and Hell. So I'm going to read this poem again in its
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entirety, and this time I just want to invite you to listen, listen,
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keenly for the different qualities of light that appear in the poem. You
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know, we start out with a brush of angels wings, which is a
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certain quality of light, right, and then the furious hooves of Hell,
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which brings out another entirely different kind of quality of light. Right. So
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listen, please, as you uh hear me again, as you hear this
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poem on my breath, listen for the different qualities of light and how they
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play into and off of one another. Sanctuary for my father, Ernest McEwan
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Jr. And William Faulkner, Between the brush of Angel's wings and furious hooves
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of Hell, two mortal men fell down. How you must have looked,
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white, shirt stained, khakis, fatigued, smelling of sweat and smoke,
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hair at odds with itself and the world at the threshold, among your restless
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dead in echo and shadow of ancient oaks providing sanctuary, offering shade. You
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had many worlds behind you, few yet to be borne, stories of insurgents,
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scorn, decay, theme and variations of a vanquished South leaning against a
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jam of antebellum brass. You watched, waited, raised, weary, arm
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in hand, saluted the familiar stranger, Come enter, fit sing. You
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reached each other across the great What you two must have known of heaven and
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hell. Deciding deciding on who you will invite to enter, sit, and
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sing, Deciding on who you include or exclude is a choice. Deciding who
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you stand with and who you don't, Deciding who you see and who you
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choose to ignore. All of these are choices. I love this quote by
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Elizabeth Cubler Ross. She says people are like stained glass windows. They sparkle
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and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in,
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their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. Now
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I love this quote, so I'm going to repeat it. And the first
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time, I you know, I had to kind of stop to really get
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my head around it. So listen, people are like stained glass windows.
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They sparkle and shine when the sun is out. But when the darkness sets
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in. When the darkness sets in, and the darkness could be hard times
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or social expectation or anything else that wants to creep in and suck the light
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right out of you right when the darkness sets in. Their true beauty is
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revealed only if there is a light from within. And do you know what,
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when there is a light from within, it does not matter. Listen
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to me, It does not matter what people around you do. The only
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thing that matters is who you are and whose you are. Because when you
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know whose you are, who you choose to be is very easy. It's
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very easy, and it will determine who you choose to be and what you
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choose to do. All right, So just invite you to breathe, breathe,
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briethe, And I have another poem that I'd like to share with you,
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And this next poem is all about artists and artistry. When I saw
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the title on gathering artists, I was immediately drawn to it. Then I
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read the poem and I was drawn in even further. As I just mentioned,
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this poem is all about artists and artistry and the light we can bring
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into the world and illuminate the world for our own creative genius. Now you
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know that I think that we're all ours. Some of us are artists with
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a big a right, but we're all artists. So this poem is a
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wonderfully luscious poem by Alberto Rios. U Gathering artists is totally new to me,
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and the poet is actually new to me as well. So Rios was
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born in nineteen fifty two. He lives in Arizona, and he is the
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inaugural Poet Laureate of the State of Arizona. Early in his writing life,
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he received the Walt Whitman Award for his collection of poems called Whispering to Fool
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the Wind. Whispering to Fool the Wind, Rios has written many many poems
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and has authored a number of poetry collections, including a small Story about the
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Sky. He currently serves as a chancellor of the prestigious Academy of an American
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Poets. Here's his poem on gathering artists. Rios begins this poem with an
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epigraph, who does a job well and very well? These are the artists,
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those curious lights. We are cobblers of the song and barkers of the
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carnival word. We are tailors of the light and framers of the earth.
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We fish among the elements and hunt the elusive green in gray and blue.
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We drink forbidden waters and eat an invisible food. In this time of electronic
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male and facsimile conversation, we send our voice the poem, the bridge,
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the circuit, the cure, whose electricity is made from dreams, whose song
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is sung in the colors yet unnamed, drawn from the solitary atues of the
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soul, and given up in tender to the world. How easy to spend
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a day writing a poem. How hard to spend a life writing a thousand
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A poem, a bridge, a story, a circuit, cures laws,
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bowls, the warp and weave and waft of iron and paper and light and
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salt. We labor for a lifetime, but take every day off. Who
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knows what to make of us. We are not the rib cage but the
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legs. We are not the steering wheel but the head laps. We gather
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happily, if not often we can't sit still. We hurry off. Goodbye
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to us, Hello to us, a tip of the hat to us.
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As we go about the drumming of our stars, on gathering artists who does
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a job well and very well. These are the artists, those curious whites.
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We are cobblers of the song and barkers of the carnival word. We
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are tailors of the light and framers of the earth. We fish among the
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elements and hunt the elusive green in gray and blue. We drink forbidden waters
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and eat an invisible food. In this time of electronic male and facsimile conversation,
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we send as our voice the poem, the bridge, the circuit,
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the cure, whose electricity is made from dreams, whose song is sung in
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the colors yet unnamed, drawn from the solitary etudes of the soul, and
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given up in tender to the world. How easy to spend a day writing
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a poem, How hard to spend a life writing a thousand A poem,
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a bridge, a circuit, a story, cures laws, bowls, the
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warp and weave and waft of iron and paper and light and salt, we
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labor for a lifetime, but take every day off. Who knows what to
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make of us. We are not the rib cage but the legs. We
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are not the steering wheel but the head lamps. We gather happily, if
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not often we can't sit still. We hurry off. Goodbye to us,
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Hello to us, A tip of the hat to us as we go about
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the drumming of our stars. Ah such lustrous poems, these poems of light
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and love and soul. If you'd like to read more, you can find
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each of the poems I share today in books by the poets Langston Hughes,
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Alberta Rios, and Yours Truly Gloria Burgess. In Act. You can find
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my poem Sanctuary in my book of poems called The Open Door. It also
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appears at a number of anthologies and in my book called Dare to Wear Your
41:13
Soul on the Outside. You can hear more about the power of poetry by
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listening to some of my other podcasts. I have a show about poetry and
41:25
the power of healing poetry and leading, another one that highlights and features Pulitzer
41:32
Prize winning poet Gwendoline Brooks. I also have a podcast of my interview with
41:37
poet Elizabeth Austen and a show featuring doctor Maya Angelo. And yes, I
41:45
know that folks love my podcast on poetry and I love researching and creating them.
41:52
So there's more to come, more podcasts about the power of words and
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the power of poetry. Now, did you know that you can offer poetry
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anywhere? That's right, you can offer poetry anywhere. In fact, during
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National Poetry Months, they now have a whole day called Poem in your Pocket.
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Poem in your Pocket? What does that mean? Well, it's a
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whole day where the idea is to tuck a copy of your favorite poem into
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your pocket or your purse or your backpack, right, and then you share
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your poem with folks you encounter during your day on the bus, in your
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carpool, when you walking your dog, or standing in line waiting for your
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coffee or latte or tea, when you're at work, or at the grocery
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store or the bookstore, the fruit stand. You get the idea, right,
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I just love that poem in your pocket. And you know what,
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I want to let you in on a little secret. Okay, but this
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is the kind of secret you can share with others. So what's the secret.
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Well, here it is. You don't have to wait and to poem
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in your pocket day to share a poetry. That's right, you don't have
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to wait. You can share a poem anytime, anywhere, with anyone.
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Okay, just give it a try now. In my own work as a
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speaker, as a coach, as a facilitator and trainer, I use poems
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all the time, right. I use poems to help people slow down,
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to bring them into a room, to help them remember to breathe right,
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and to help them remember who they are and to remember who and what is
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important. I use poems to build bridges. I use poems to help people
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reconnect with their purpose and sometimes to find their way right, to find their
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unique purpose there why I use poems to heal, to inspire, to transcend
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ordinary time, to enter through the gates of God's time, what the Greeks
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called kiros. Used in these ways, poems become prayers. Poems become prayers.
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Poems also become a portal, a doorway, a threshold that we cross
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that urges us to stop, look and listen, to truly pay attention to
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who and what matters. Now, Just think about this. If you want
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to transform your relationships or your family, your friendships, your team at work,
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your organization, guess what you first have to transform yourself. And one
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of the best ways I know is to do that through poetry, to allow
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yourself to stop, look and listen spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and physically.
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How you live. How you live is how you do everything. How
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you live is how you lead yourself your relationships, your friendships, at work,
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at home, at church, with your kids, your parents, your
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sisters and brothers. Ask yourself, how am I living today? Not how
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am I doing today? But how am I living today? Okay, if
46:15
you missed any part of this week's podcast, or if you missed last week's
46:21
show, you can download the recording and listen to it at your convenience.
46:29
You can even listen to it on the go. Check us out at iTunes,
46:36
Alexa, spreaker dot com, or you can listen live or download to
46:44
listen later right here at www Dot Talk network radio dot com. Okay,
46:53
that's www. Dot Talk network radio dot com. All right, we are
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about to close today's podcast, and I want to thank each of you for
47:07
tuning in today. Thank you for allowing me to share a bit about my
47:10
journey with what legacy living is all about, not just living and learning,
47:15
but living and learning and serving so that you make a difference in your own
47:22
life and in the lives of others. It's all about being on purpose every
47:29
single day. Three sixty five twenty four seven. Legacy living is one of
47:35
the many ways to make your life count. Before I close today's show again,
47:44
I want to thank you for joining me here today. I'm your host,
47:47
doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, and this has been Legacy Living. Make your
47:54
life count. Please join me again next week. Write here on iTunes,
48:01
Alexasprinker dot com or Talk Network Radio for another show, another podcast of Legacy
48:12
Living. Make your life count. Don't just count the days in your life.
48:21
Make the days in your life count. That's what legacy living is all
48:28
about. Have a fantastic day, and remember, make the days in your
48:35
life count. God bless that's our show today. I'm your host, doctor
48:53
Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll join me again next week. Until then,
49:00
don't just count the days in your life, make the days in your
49:05
life account. That's what legacy living is all about. Here's to you have
49:10
a fantastic day. Be sure to make it a yes kind of day,
49:16
and remember celebrate, celebrate the music of your life. Make the days in
49:23
your life a count