In “Do You Have Any Advice for Those of Us Just Starting Out?”, Gay Guard-Chamberlin poses a common question with the poem’s title, which is then succinctly answered in the four brief lines that comprise the poem itself. In a rather simple Zen-like sparseness, Gay’s perfect little poem is a lesson in practicality. The eleven words of the poem (less than the twelve words of the title, I might add), say exactly what needs to be said, and nothing more. All writers, poets, authors, artists, and creatives should read this poem and heed its lesson.
“Do You Have Any Advice for Those of Us Just Starting Out?”
– after Ron Koertge
let the page be
your prayer rug
kneel down
every day
Gay Guard-Chamblin
Gay Guard-Chamberlin is an interdisciplinary artist and writer living in a richly diverse Chicago neighborhood. Red Thread Through a Rusty Needle, her first book of 36 poems, is available through New Wind Publishing. As often as possible, she performs as one half of “Sibling Revelry” with her writer-sister, Anara Guard. For more information on Gay or on Sibling Revelry, go to https://newwindpublishing.com/mbm-book-author/gay-guard-chamberlin/
Wonderful poem.
Perfect!
Deeply moving somehow but don’t know just what how.
I continue to enjoy the postcard poem you gave me some while back.
Betty Jacobsen
A lump of clay for me……..love your directness