Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / The Grace of Poetry | Episode #494

Transcript

The Grace of Poetry | Episode #494 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

0:21
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your
0:26
Speaker 1: Life Count. I'm your host, Doctor Gloria. Gloria Burgess, passionate
0:33
Speaker 1: inspirational speaker, author, poet, and entrepreneur. Welcome to Legacy Living,
0:41
Speaker 1: Make your Life Count. I'm delighted that you joined me today.
0:47
Speaker 1: I want to give a big thank you to those
0:49
Speaker 1: of you who are listening, and here's a great big
0:52
Speaker 1: shout out to all of you listening around the world.
0:55
Speaker 1: I'm delighted and so grateful that you tuned in. You
1:00
Speaker 1: hope you're enjoying a fabulous day today and that you're
1:04
Speaker 1: having a fantastic week, because you know what, in the
1:08
Speaker 1: grand song of the universe, life is very very short.
1:13
Speaker 1: It's short and oh so sweet and precious. So I
1:19
Speaker 1: hope you're making a difference in your own life, because
1:23
Speaker 1: when you do, you also make a difference in someone
1:27
Speaker 1: else's life. A lot of folks want to make their
1:33
Speaker 1: life count for something, and they ask me, Doctor Gloria,
1:38
Speaker 1: how do you do that. Well, it's simple, it's very simple.
1:43
Speaker 1: You make your life count day by day, step by step,
1:48
Speaker 1: moment by moment, every single day. Three sixty five, twenty
1:54
Speaker 1: four to seven. That's what legacy living Make your Life
1:58
Speaker 1: Count is all about. You can learn more about legacy
2:03
Speaker 1: living Make your Life Count by visiting the Gloria Burgess website.
2:08
Speaker 1: That's g l O r I A b as in
2:12
Speaker 1: boy you r g E s s dot com. The
2:17
Speaker 1: Gloria Burgess website again, that's g l O r I
2:22
Speaker 1: A b as in boy you r g E s
2:26
Speaker 1: s dot com, or by visiting Facebook and you can
2:31
Speaker 1: find me on Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward slash
2:36
Speaker 1: b r G l O r I A b U
2:42
Speaker 1: r g e s S p h D forward slash. Okay,
2:48
Speaker 1: all right, today I want to talk with you about
2:55
Speaker 1: the power of a poem. That's right, the power of
3:00
Speaker 1: a poem. Can I just tell you something? This is
3:04
Speaker 1: going to be a great show today. You don't want
3:07
Speaker 1: to miss a single word. So grab your earbuds, put
3:11
Speaker 1: on your walking shoes, or find yourself a comfortable chair,
3:15
Speaker 1: make yourself a nice cup of tea or coffee, or
3:18
Speaker 1: pour yourself a nice cool glass of water. We're going
3:21
Speaker 1: to have a great time. Now. Before I jump into
3:26
Speaker 1: today's topic, I want to take a moment to welcome you.
3:31
Speaker 1: If you're just joining us, I'm your host, Doctor Gloria,
3:36
Speaker 1: and this is legacy living Make your life count. I'd
3:41
Speaker 1: like to extend a special welcome to those of you
3:43
Speaker 1: who are joining my podcast, or if you're joining Talk
3:47
Speaker 1: Network Radio for the very first time, You're in for
3:52
Speaker 1: a real treat. I'm excited to have you listening in today,
3:56
Speaker 1: and I'm deeply honored that you've allowed me to be
3:59
Speaker 1: part of your day so you can be inspired by
4:02
Speaker 1: the ideas and resources to make your life count. Today's
4:09
Speaker 1: podcast is all about the power of a poem. Now
4:15
Speaker 1: what do I mean by that? Does a poem really
4:19
Speaker 1: have power? Well, of course it does. Inside the words,
4:24
Speaker 1: inside the rhythms, inside the music of poems. Inside that's
4:32
Speaker 1: where the power resides. Poems offer us so much. They
4:39
Speaker 1: can be a bridge, the kind of bridge that transports
4:43
Speaker 1: you from wherever you are into another place altogether, a
4:49
Speaker 1: bridge that opens you to a new understanding of who
4:53
Speaker 1: you are and your calling in the world. A poem
4:58
Speaker 1: can be a bridge that connects us one heart to another,
5:03
Speaker 1: that connects us across countries and across cultures and our
5:11
Speaker 1: own self imposed constraints. Poems also have the power to
5:17
Speaker 1: help us bridge our internal world with the external world.
5:23
Speaker 1: David White, one of my favorite poets, talks about this
5:27
Speaker 1: power in this way. He says, the poet lives and
5:32
Speaker 1: writes at the frontier, the frontier between deep internal experience
5:39
Speaker 1: and the revelations of the outer world. There is no
5:43
Speaker 1: going back. Once this frontier has been reached, a new
5:48
Speaker 1: territory is visible, and what has said cannot be unsaid. Poetry,
5:57
Speaker 1: he says, is a break for freedom. I just love
6:03
Speaker 1: that now when you think about it. Poems are also
6:10
Speaker 1: said to be dangerous. Now why is that? Because a
6:14
Speaker 1: good poem is like a dare. A good poem dares
6:18
Speaker 1: us to hit the pause button. That's right now. In
6:23
Speaker 1: today's fast paced world, where speed is valued and time
6:28
Speaker 1: is money, poetry invites us to slow down, to pause,
6:34
Speaker 1: to walk, not run, to pay attention, to not give
6:40
Speaker 1: in to the inauthentic and the superficial. A good poem
6:46
Speaker 1: dares us to see through the eyes of another, to
6:49
Speaker 1: walk a few steps or maybe even a few miles,
6:52
Speaker 1: in someone else's shoes, in someone else's experience. A good
6:59
Speaker 1: poem dares us to love what is unlovely, love what
7:08
Speaker 1: is forsaken or forgotten, or maybe even turning the mirror
7:14
Speaker 1: towards ourselves. You know, sometimes we feel a little unlovely,
7:18
Speaker 1: forsaken and forgotten to A good poem dares us to
7:23
Speaker 1: not only love, but also to feel pain and loss
7:28
Speaker 1: and grief and loneliness. It dares us to let go
7:33
Speaker 1: of our strategic mind and to embrace the personal, the intimate,
7:40
Speaker 1: the necessary darkness and bleakness in our own and others' lives.
7:47
Speaker 1: You know what, A good poem dares us to be transformed? Now,
7:54
Speaker 1: if you like me, you really enjoy poetry, even if
7:58
Speaker 1: you don't really know why. And sometimes it's not important
8:01
Speaker 1: to know why. It's just important to enjoy the words,
8:06
Speaker 1: the rhythms, the music. So let's talk about that. Let's
8:12
Speaker 1: talk about the purpose of poetry, or more accurately, let's
8:17
Speaker 1: talk about the purposes, because poetry has many, many purposes,
8:22
Speaker 1: many many uses. So I want to begin by asking
8:26
Speaker 1: what difference, what difference can a poem make? Now that's
8:30
Speaker 1: a great question, isn't it. What difference can a poem make?
8:36
Speaker 1: For me? I can tell you that, without a shadow
8:39
Speaker 1: of a doubt, poetry has made a difference in my life.
8:44
Speaker 1: I know, I know a lot of folks say that,
8:46
Speaker 1: don't they why do I say it? Well, poetry made
8:50
Speaker 1: a difference in my life, but not just any kind
8:53
Speaker 1: of difference. It made a significant difference in my life.
8:57
Speaker 1: In fact, it would be accurate to say that poetry
9:01
Speaker 1: actually saved my life. That's right, now, How did that happen? Well,
9:09
Speaker 1: Poetry helped me connect the dots between my lived experience
9:15
Speaker 1: as a little black girl who was born in the
9:18
Speaker 1: rural south of the United States, someone who grew up
9:23
Speaker 1: surrounded by many, many people in what I call my
9:28
Speaker 1: personal village now. When I was a little girl, I
9:33
Speaker 1: looked daily into the face of my elders, all the
9:37
Speaker 1: elders in my personal village, who looked just like me,
9:42
Speaker 1: only older. Right, They had eyes like mine, and lifts
9:46
Speaker 1: like mine, and cheeks and hair like mine. Poetry was
9:52
Speaker 1: there for me when my family moved from my personal
9:56
Speaker 1: village from the deep South to the urban North. When
10:01
Speaker 1: I left that world of familiar faces and my personal village,
10:06
Speaker 1: what I left behind all the people who loved me,
10:09
Speaker 1: who cared for me, who wanted me. When I moved
10:13
Speaker 1: from that world of belonging into this new and unfamiliar world.
10:19
Speaker 1: Poetry was that bridge for me. It actually helped me
10:25
Speaker 1: connect the dots between what I had known and what
10:30
Speaker 1: was so new, so new and unfamiliar to me. You see,
10:36
Speaker 1: in this new world, I suddenly found myself surrounded by
10:41
Speaker 1: a sea of of white faces in my neighborhood, at
10:45
Speaker 1: the grocery store, at school. I mean, this was a
10:50
Speaker 1: totally new experience for me. It was what we call
10:54
Speaker 1: a culture shock. Only I didn't really even know what
10:58
Speaker 1: that meant back then. I mean, I had no language
11:02
Speaker 1: for what I was going through, no language for this new,
11:06
Speaker 1: very uncomfortable, unfamiliar world. But even though I didn't have
11:14
Speaker 1: language for it, I knew inside how I felt. And
11:19
Speaker 1: my feelings ranged from feeling scared and alone and out
11:24
Speaker 1: of place. They ranged from fear to sadness, sometimes from
11:31
Speaker 1: feeling afraid and lost to feelings of confusion and even anger.
11:37
Speaker 1: I didn't even know what I was angry about or
11:40
Speaker 1: who I was angry at. I just knew that I
11:44
Speaker 1: felt so alone. I felt like I didn't fit in.
11:49
Speaker 1: I felt like I didn't belong. I felt like no
11:53
Speaker 1: one outside of my family really cared for me. Now,
11:59
Speaker 1: as a ten year old, I didn't have the words
12:03
Speaker 1: that I now have as an adult, but what I
12:06
Speaker 1: did have was this sense of dread, the sense of lingering, doubt,
12:13
Speaker 1: of fear, of sadness, of insecurity, and feeling so so
12:18
Speaker 1: so alone. I knew that I was unanchored, adrift, and
12:27
Speaker 1: I felt as though I was thinking in this huge
12:32
Speaker 1: ocean that was way, way, way bigger than me. Again,
12:39
Speaker 1: without having all of those words for what I was
12:41
Speaker 1: going through at that time in my life, I felt
12:44
Speaker 1: that whatever was going on was way bigger than little
12:48
Speaker 1: old me, but I was powerless to do anything about it.
12:56
Speaker 1: I also knew that poems provided me with something to
13:02
Speaker 1: hold on to and away to hold on. I also
13:09
Speaker 1: had an incredible experience that changed everything. That's the experience
13:17
Speaker 1: that saved my life. I remember that moment in my
13:22
Speaker 1: life as if it happened just yesterday. I remember being
13:27
Speaker 1: in the sixth grade and my teacher, her name was
13:31
Speaker 1: Mary Jane Gillespie. My classmates and I called her Miss g.
13:37
Speaker 1: I remember one day, a day that started out like
13:40
Speaker 1: so many other days during recess. I was sitting inside
13:46
Speaker 1: while all the other kids were outside playing and enjoying themselves,
13:50
Speaker 1: playing teather ball or four square, or tag or soccer,
13:53
Speaker 1: or just hanging out together and laughing and talking, and
13:57
Speaker 1: I was sitting inside the room with my head down
14:00
Speaker 1: on my desk, having my own private little pity party.
14:04
Speaker 1: Right now, what was I doing. I was feeling alone
14:08
Speaker 1: and I was feeling sorry for myself. Now, when I
14:12
Speaker 1: was in grade school, the teachers still wore dresses or skirts,
14:16
Speaker 1: and they also wore high heels. They wore pumps. Okay,
14:19
Speaker 1: that was back in the day, right, So, this particular day,
14:23
Speaker 1: I was sitting in my classroom during recess. I had
14:26
Speaker 1: my head down at my desk, and then I remember
14:29
Speaker 1: hearing that click, click, click click of high heels and
14:32
Speaker 1: I knew right away it was Miss G by the
14:35
Speaker 1: sound of the clicks. Her footsteps got closer and closer
14:39
Speaker 1: to my desk, and then they just stopped. I remember
14:44
Speaker 1: hearing this little plunk of a sound and feeling a
14:48
Speaker 1: little gust of cool air as she put something on
14:51
Speaker 1: my desk beside my head. Then I heard the click,
14:55
Speaker 1: click click of her heels as she walked away and
14:59
Speaker 1: out of the clock classroom. As soon as I knew
15:03
Speaker 1: it was all clear, I popped my head up to
15:05
Speaker 1: see what Miss G had put on my desk. I
15:10
Speaker 1: was surprised to find that she had put a little
15:13
Speaker 1: book on my desk. Now, Miss g knew how much
15:17
Speaker 1: I loved to read, and she knew how much I
15:21
Speaker 1: loved poetry. And guess what, she had put a little
15:25
Speaker 1: book of poems on my desk. As I looked through it,
15:30
Speaker 1: I realized this was no ordinary book of poems. This
15:36
Speaker 1: was a book of poems by my favorite poet, Langston Hughes.
15:42
Speaker 1: The book was called The dream Keeper. I opened that
15:48
Speaker 1: little blue book and I just fell in love. Now
15:54
Speaker 1: why because this was the first time, inside of a
15:58
Speaker 1: classroom that I had held a book of poems or
16:02
Speaker 1: any other book that had pictures in it. Pictures of
16:06
Speaker 1: people who looked like me, people who had eyes like
16:10
Speaker 1: mine and lips like mine, people who looked out at
16:14
Speaker 1: me with love in their eyes, just like my mama
16:17
Speaker 1: and my daddy, just like the elders in my personal village.
16:23
Speaker 1: When I read the words, they had that swing and sway.
16:28
Speaker 1: They had the music and the rhythm. They had a
16:31
Speaker 1: dance like feeling that spoke to my heart and my soul.
16:36
Speaker 1: The words actually had the same kind of cadence of
16:41
Speaker 1: the words I heard at home and in my neighborhood
16:46
Speaker 1: and at church. Mercy. Now David White, the poet that
16:53
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, says there's no place like the House
17:00
Speaker 1: of belonging. We're gonna say that again, there is no
17:07
Speaker 1: place like the House of belonging. Can I just tell
17:13
Speaker 1: you something? He is absolutely right. This little blue book
17:17
Speaker 1: of poems called The dream Keeper was my house. It
17:21
Speaker 1: will filled with peeps from my family, peeps from my
17:26
Speaker 1: personal village, my village of belonging. What difference can a
17:36
Speaker 1: poem make? Here's the difference. Miss g thought she had
17:42
Speaker 1: given me a book of poems. But what she really
17:46
Speaker 1: gave me was a long drink of water for my
17:50
Speaker 1: withered little soul. What she really gave me was a lifeline,
17:55
Speaker 1: a lifeline to hold on to as I was swirling
17:58
Speaker 1: around and around in that big old sea of self doubt,
18:04
Speaker 1: as I was sinking in the sea of loneliness, she
18:08
Speaker 1: gave me a healthy dose of oxygen, a special kind
18:13
Speaker 1: of CPR that saved my life. What difference can a
18:24
Speaker 1: poem make for some poets, for some readers, for some listeners,
18:31
Speaker 1: poems or instruments for healing. When I work with students
18:37
Speaker 1: in the schools, I often use poetry as a way
18:40
Speaker 1: to help them find their own true voice and then
18:45
Speaker 1: to explore the layers of their voice. As a teenager,
18:50
Speaker 1: your job, your primary preoccupation and official occupation, is to
18:56
Speaker 1: discover who you really are, to find find out for
19:01
Speaker 1: yourself what you believe, to find out for yourself what
19:05
Speaker 1: you stand for, what you value Now. Sometimes I use
19:11
Speaker 1: poetry to help students discover more about themselves, as a pathway,
19:16
Speaker 1: as a bridge to explore their various identities and ways
19:21
Speaker 1: of making sense in a very complex world. I also
19:27
Speaker 1: use poems to help them slow down so they can
19:31
Speaker 1: pay attention to the world around them, not the virtual
19:35
Speaker 1: world of social media. I'm talking about the real world,
19:39
Speaker 1: the real world that is all around them, the real
19:43
Speaker 1: world that has real people with real problems just like
19:47
Speaker 1: they do right and also the world that has real
19:52
Speaker 1: people who are filled with love in their hearts. What
19:59
Speaker 1: difference can a poem make for young people? Poetry is
20:06
Speaker 1: the fastest way to move from not knowing who you
20:09
Speaker 1: are to knowing who you are. Poetry is a way
20:14
Speaker 1: to really pay attention to the world inside of you,
20:19
Speaker 1: and it's the same way for adults. A few months ago,
20:25
Speaker 1: I was talking to a cohort of executives talking with
20:28
Speaker 1: them about one of my favorite topics, leadership, looking through
20:33
Speaker 1: the lens of legacy. Now, during my time with that
20:37
Speaker 1: cohort of execs, I'd led them in a session where
20:40
Speaker 1: they could explore their values, explore their deeply held beliefs
20:45
Speaker 1: about leadership and the significance of their work. After the session,
20:52
Speaker 1: a gentleman came up and introduced himself. He said he
20:55
Speaker 1: was the founder and executive director of a nonprofit that
21:00
Speaker 1: provided programs and services for at risk youth. He then
21:05
Speaker 1: asked if I recognized him. I said no, should I?
21:09
Speaker 1: He said, Well, when we met the first time, you
21:13
Speaker 1: were in my class room. Humm, you were there as
21:17
Speaker 1: part of a big poetry project. Hum. He then went
21:22
Speaker 1: on to remind me that I had spent a week
21:25
Speaker 1: with his class as an artist in residence. He shared
21:29
Speaker 1: how my poetry had touched him and his students and
21:34
Speaker 1: what a difference that it made in his class room. Now,
21:38
Speaker 1: in his new role, he's using the arts, visual art,
21:42
Speaker 1: music movement, and poetry to engage youth in his community,
21:50
Speaker 1: and he asked if he could use some of my
21:52
Speaker 1: poetry as part of that project. Now, I share all
21:56
Speaker 1: of this with you, not to pat myself on the
21:58
Speaker 1: backward to impress you. I share it to impress upon
22:02
Speaker 1: you the power of poetry to make a difference in
22:05
Speaker 1: your life. So let me ask you that question again,
22:13
Speaker 1: what difference can a poem make? Well? For this executive director,
22:20
Speaker 1: he not only works in his own local community, he
22:24
Speaker 1: connects students at risk youth in his community with communities
22:31
Speaker 1: all over the world, because you know what, they're at
22:35
Speaker 1: risk youth in every single continent on the planet. What
22:42
Speaker 1: difference can a poem make? A poem could be a bridge.
22:49
Speaker 1: Right in my work with doctors and nurses and other
22:53
Speaker 1: healthcare providers, we turn to poetry to help them slow
22:57
Speaker 1: down and pay attention to their inner life. Now, you
23:02
Speaker 1: can just imagine how hectic life is in the emergency
23:06
Speaker 1: room in the er. Right, not just once in a while,
23:09
Speaker 1: like when you have to take your daughter or son
23:12
Speaker 1: to the hospital because they stuck something in their ear,
23:15
Speaker 1: or they swallowed something they never should have put in
23:17
Speaker 1: their mouths in the first place. This is life in
23:21
Speaker 1: the er because it's your job. This is your world
23:27
Speaker 1: every single day. Well, can you imagine going into an
23:31
Speaker 1: er where the doctors aren't talking to the nurses, the
23:36
Speaker 1: nurses aren't talking to the doctors, and the folks on
23:39
Speaker 1: the night shift can't seem to get along with the
23:40
Speaker 1: folks on the day shift. Sounds kind of crazy, doesn't it. Well,
23:45
Speaker 1: that world is why folks call on me as a
23:48
Speaker 1: consultant or as a coach. They need help, and they
23:51
Speaker 1: need it fast, and they don't really know how to
23:55
Speaker 1: help themselves. I have to pinch myself because I get
23:59
Speaker 1: to work with folks who need the kind of CPR
24:02
Speaker 1: that only poetry can provide. We might begin our session
24:07
Speaker 1: with the sounds of music to help folks get in
24:11
Speaker 1: harmony with themselves, to help them slow down and pay
24:15
Speaker 1: attention to the rhythm that is closer to their own
24:19
Speaker 1: natural rhythm versus that fast paced, intense music of a
24:25
Speaker 1: typical emergency room. Right kind of like metallic rock. Okay, now,
24:31
Speaker 1: the music I'm talking about is sweet honey, It's jasmine
24:36
Speaker 1: or magnificent Magnolia. Okay. It's that fragrance found in the music,
24:42
Speaker 1: the tempo, the flow of language. It's been said that poetry,
24:53
Speaker 1: poetry is the best words in the best order. Let
24:59
Speaker 1: me tell you some thing. The right poem at the
25:04
Speaker 1: right time with the right people is a small dose
25:10
Speaker 1: of what matters. It's a small dose of what makes
25:15
Speaker 1: a difference. Just like a close friend, the kind of
25:20
Speaker 1: close friend you can call at three am in the morning,
25:24
Speaker 1: Yes right, and they don't hang up on you. The
25:27
Speaker 1: right poem at the right time, with the right people
25:30
Speaker 1: can be the difference that makes all the difference. Poetry
25:36
Speaker 1: has the power to awaken us, to shake us up,
25:42
Speaker 1: to shape us up, to entertain us, to educate us,
25:47
Speaker 1: to liberate us, to heal us, to build bridges where
25:51
Speaker 1: before there was only a loose array of stones along
25:56
Speaker 1: the road. Poetry also has the power to reimagine the unimaginable,
26:05
Speaker 1: to make tangible the intangible, to revisit history and arrest
26:11
Speaker 1: us with its industrious, divine and mysterious ways. Now, before
26:22
Speaker 1: I close today's podcast, I want to give a special
26:27
Speaker 1: shout out to a family of poets called kave Conom
26:32
Speaker 1: kave Conom. It's spelled c A z E like cave okay,
26:38
Speaker 1: conum c A n E M. Look them up kave
26:43
Speaker 1: Conom flatten okay And to call kave Kanum and organization
26:49
Speaker 1: would be to tell only part of their glorious story,
26:54
Speaker 1: to share only one of it its many many facets.
26:58
Speaker 1: Kave Conum is a color collective of poets and writers
27:02
Speaker 1: of the African diaspora, was founded in nineteen ninety six
27:08
Speaker 1: and since then they have rewritten the book so to speak. Okay,
27:14
Speaker 1: because of this amazing collective, we now have African American
27:19
Speaker 1: poets being recognized as US poet laureates. We now have
27:24
Speaker 1: African American poets winning major prizes and fellowships like the
27:28
Speaker 1: Lamont Prize awarded by the American Academy of Poets, like
27:33
Speaker 1: the Guggenheim Fellowship, Yes, even like the Pulitzer Prize. Right now,
27:41
Speaker 1: I have the good fortune of being a poetry fellow
27:45
Speaker 1: with this amazing collective called Kave Kanum, and in its
27:49
Speaker 1: relatively short history, it has effectively changed the face and
27:55
Speaker 1: dare I say, changed the very complexion of poetry in
28:00
Speaker 1: the US and beyond. Because of this incredible organization, we
28:06
Speaker 1: now have more African American poets and writers at the table.
28:12
Speaker 1: More of them at the table means that they have
28:15
Speaker 1: more decision making authority, which means that they can contribute
28:20
Speaker 1: to lifting up the voices of more poets and writers
28:24
Speaker 1: of the African diaspora and beyond. Okay, now, this phenomenon
28:30
Speaker 1: has quickened the pace of what was already occurring before
28:35
Speaker 1: the founding of Kaveconum. But I'm telling you it was
28:39
Speaker 1: at a pace that can only be described as glacial. Okay,
28:46
Speaker 1: talk about transformation, Talk about transformation, talk about the power
28:54
Speaker 1: of poetry. Now, before I close to day, I want
29:01
Speaker 1: to share a poem with you. It's one of my
29:04
Speaker 1: favorites and by my favorite Poetngston Hughes, and it's called
29:10
Speaker 1: Mother to Son. I want to dedicate this poem to
29:17
Speaker 1: a poet who is near and dear to me, and
29:20
Speaker 1: that's my mom. Now, I bet you didn't know my
29:23
Speaker 1: mom's a poet. Well, she doesn't write poems in the
29:26
Speaker 1: same way that I do, but she's a poet just
29:29
Speaker 1: the same. For as long as I've known her, my
29:34
Speaker 1: mom has lived her life as a poem, and now,
29:39
Speaker 1: at the threshold of her ninth decade, she continues to
29:43
Speaker 1: do just that. So Mother to the person who has
29:47
Speaker 1: made an incredible and indelible difference in my life. This poem,
29:53
Speaker 1: which is all about making your life count, this poem
29:57
Speaker 1: is for you. This poem is called Mother to Son
30:08
Speaker 1: by Manston Hughes. Mother to Son, Life for me ain't
30:18
Speaker 1: been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it and
30:24
Speaker 1: splinters and boards torn up and places with no carpet
30:29
Speaker 1: on the floor. Bear, But all the time eye's been
30:38
Speaker 1: a climbing on and reaching mandins and turning corners, and
30:44
Speaker 1: sometimes going in the dark where there ain't been no light.
30:49
Speaker 1: So boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down
30:55
Speaker 1: on the steps, cause you find it's kind of hard.
31:00
Speaker 1: Don't you fall now? For I still go on, honey,
31:06
Speaker 1: I still climbing, And life for me ain't been no
31:15
Speaker 1: crystal stare. I just love this poem. For me, it's
31:29
Speaker 1: a testament to my elders, maybe to your own elders,
31:35
Speaker 1: to people who had the grit and the determination and
31:39
Speaker 1: the faith and the perseverance to just keep on keeping on.
31:48
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mom for making such a profound difference in
31:52
Speaker 1: my life. This poem is a reflection, a mirror of you.
32:01
Speaker 1: You've made a difference in my life every single day
32:05
Speaker 1: three sixty five twenty four seven, even now, even now,
32:11
Speaker 1: I think of you every day. I pray for you
32:14
Speaker 1: every day. I lift you up every single day. Now.
32:25
Speaker 1: If you missed any part of this week's podcast, or
32:29
Speaker 1: if you missed me last week. You can listen to
32:33
Speaker 1: this podcast and others at your convenience. You can even
32:37
Speaker 1: listen on the go. You can find me on iTunes,
32:42
Speaker 1: alexasoundcloudspreaker dot com, and many many more places. You can
32:48
Speaker 1: also listen in right here. Check it out at www
32:53
Speaker 1: dot talknetwork Radio dot com. Now, before I close today,
33:00
Speaker 1: I want to thank each of you for tuning in
33:02
Speaker 1: and for allowing me to share a bit about my
33:04
Speaker 1: journey with what legacy living is all about, not just
33:08
Speaker 1: living and learning, but living and learning and serving so
33:13
Speaker 1: that you make a difference in your own life and
33:16
Speaker 1: in the lives of others. It's about being on purpose
33:21
Speaker 1: every single day. Three sixty five twenty four seven. Legacy
33:27
Speaker 1: Living is the most powerful way to make your life count.
33:34
Speaker 1: Once again, I want to thank you for joining me
33:37
Speaker 1: for today's podcast. I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess,
33:43
Speaker 1: and this has been Legacy Living. Make your life count.
33:48
Speaker 1: Don't just count the days in your life, make the
33:53
Speaker 1: days in your life count. That's what Legacy Living is
33:58
Speaker 1: all about. Have a fantastic day, and remember, make the
34:04
Speaker 1: days in your life count. God bless you. That's our
34:21
Speaker 1: show's to day. I'm your host doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess,
34:27
Speaker 1: I hope you'll join me again next week. Until then,
34:31
Speaker 1: don't just count the days in your life. Make the
34:34
Speaker 1: days in your life account. That's what legacy living is
34:38
Speaker 1: all about. Here's to you have a fantastic day. Be
34:44
Speaker 1: sure to make it a yes kind of day, and
34:47
Speaker 1: remember celebrate, celebrate the music of your life. Make the
34:54
Speaker 1: day in your life count