Last week, I had a great opportunity to participate in a panel, “The Courage to Share,” at Books by the Banks, Cincinnati’s annual book festival. I was joined by fellow poets and panelists Manuel Iris, Desirae Hosley (The SilentPoet), and Mia Watka (Cincinnati Youth Poet Laureate).
When I think of the courage to to be an artist, I recall the closing lines of Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day:” “[I do know . . .] how to stroll through the fields, / which is what I have been doing all day. / Tell me, what else should I have done? / Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? / Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?”
We need the courage to claim our time (“stroll through the fields”), the courage to find our voice (“what is it you plan to do with you one wild and precious life), and the courage to share our work in the face of rejection (“Tell me”).
with fellow-panelist Manuel Iris, Cincinnati Poet Laureate Emeritus
