Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

These days, whenever anyone asks how we are coping, I say with joy, with grace, with fortitude, with light. I share that those who know they belong to a higher power, can never cower when trouble comes. This is how they begin, in the middle of chaos. They know to get their wings ready, know the ascent will be rough, know to keep flying anyways, know to live not for bumps along the way, not for the battles won, not for the end of the song, not when the race ahead is long, for even when they are not ready for the day, they know nights never last. So they live for the in-between, live for the chaos, live in the along, live even when the bells are rung. They live even if they don’t belong.

I wonder these days what poets long gone would think of the moments we find ourselves in. Gwendolyn Brooks is my muse for today and her speech to the young, to the progress toward touched my soul. We are in a marathon and the next four years are long. Still, she would want those who choose to slap the sun, those that are down keepers, those that soil selves, those that hush harmony away, all those not ready for the day, to know it will not always be night and life is not for the battles we will win or lose, not for the beginning or end of a song, not when we choose to live even through chaos and confusion. She would say live for the progress toward, the moments beyond the next four years. It seems so long, but when you choose to live, even the chaos is grace unfiltered. Live for that!