A Quote to Start Things Off

""I'd love to go to Santa Fe at some point, Emmett said, but for the time being, I need to go to New York. The panhandler stopped laughing and adopted a more serious expression. Well. that's life in a nutshell, aint it. Lovin' to go to one place and havin' to go to another. Amor Towles in the Lincoln Highway.

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Thursday, July 7, 2022

Poetry Friday: The Problem of Good.




 It's Thursday night so we all know that mean's it's time for Poetry Friday.  This week's festival of free verse, carnival of couplets, and symposium of sonnets is being held at Bookseed Studio.


I went through about 1.3 million drafts or so of this poem before I got this far. I was driving my family crazy with all the revisions.  Here is what I came up with ...

The Problem of Good.

I tried feeling good

       But ...

Feeling good fades.


I tried being good

       But ...

Being good is impossible


I tried doing good

Doing good is filling a leaky bucket

One exhausting drop at a time


Then I remembered

God is good.

I can ...

Feel His Goodness

Be His Goodness

Do His Goodness

And...

That's not bad. 


For more Poetry Friday click here.






5 comments:

Tabatha said...

What a great family you have that they read so many revisions! We could think about how to do/be/feel good all day, couldn't we? I like this quote by Max Ehrmann:
Give me a few friends who will love me for what I am; and keep ever
burning before my vagrant steps the kindly light of hope.

Linda B said...

My post today connects, I think, about being kind. Feels to me that 'doing good' is what life is always about. Having 'ears' for feedback helps a lot! Thanks, Dave

Mary Lee said...

And my post today connects as well, to the "doing good" part of your poem. I would beg to differ, though. I believe that every little bit of good that each of us do contributes to the greater good, so we shouldn't become discouraged that we can't solve all the huge problems. We just need to do our own very best in whatever way and whatever size we can.

Elisabeth said...

I love how you explore the facets of good - feeling and doing and being - a word study that invites contemplation. Thank you for sharing this with us this week!

mbhmaine said...

How wonderful that your writing is something you share with your family. Your poem raises some interesting questions about the many ways to interact with "good."

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