If People Disapprove of You
Make being disapproved of your hobby,
Make being disapproved of your aim.
Devise new ways of scoring points
In the Being Disapproved Of Game
Let them disapprove in their dozens.
Let them disapprove in their hordes.
You'll find that being disapproved of
Builds character, brings rewards.
Just like any form of striving.
Don't be arrogant; don't coast
On your high disapproval rating.
Try to be disapproved of most.
At this point, if it's useful,
Draw a pie-chart or a graph.
Show it to someone who disapproves.
When they disapprove, just laugh.
Count the emotions you provoke:
Anger, suspicion, shock.
One point for each of these and two
For every boat you rock.
Feel yourself warming to your task --
You do it bloody well.
At last you've found an area
In which you can excel.
Savor the thrill of risk without
The fear of getting caught.
Whether they sulk or scream or pout,
Enjoy your new-found sport.
Meanwhile all those who disapprove
While you are having fun
Won't even know your game exists
So tell yourself you've won.
~ Sophie Hannah
Morning Exercises
I wake up and say: I'm through.
It's my first thought at dawn.
What a nice way to start the day
With such a murderous thought.
God, take pity on me
- is the second thought, and then
I get out of bed
And live as if
Nothing had been said.
~ Nina Cassian
The Flaw in Paganism
Drink and dance and laugh and lie,
Love, the reeling midnight through,
For tomorrow we shall die!
(But, alas, we never do.)
~ Dorothy Parker
Saturday Morning
Everyone who made love the night before
was walking round with flashing red lights
on top of their heads ‚ a white-haired old gentleman,
a red-faced schoolboy, a pregnant woman
who smiled at me from across the street
and gave a little secret shrug,
as if the flashing red light on her head
was a small price to pay for what she knew.
~ Hugo Williams
Sometimes
Sometimes things don't go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives, the crops don't fail,
sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.
A people sometimes will step back from war;
elect an honest man; decide they care
enough, that they can't leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.
Sometimes our best efforts do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen: may it happen to you.
~ Sheenagh Pugh
Weather
Because of the menace
your father opened
like a black umbrella
and held high
over your childhood
blocking the light,
your life now seems
to you exceptional
in its simplicities.
You speak of this,
throwing the window open
on a plain spring day,
dazzling
after such a winter.
~ Linda Pastan
