Yes, Your Words Matter!

Gram and me in her backyard in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood.

Thanks to the editors of Postcard Poems and Prose for publishing my poem "Blue Dress." You can see it here.

The poem is about my grandmother, a tough lady who lived to be 101 and who was also extremely kind and generous. A champion of my literary aspirations, she paid for my first writing class and also bought me a printer when mine went on the blink.

I heard about this fine journal from my good friend Lindy, another strong, inspiring woman. Here's a link to her work, which beautifully combines writing and photography.

One of my adult writing students recently told me she wanted to write something that made a difference. I don't remember how I responded, but I wish I'd told her, "You already have." In class one morning, she read a piece about giving money to a man outside a grocery store. Like Gram's cheering me on and Lindy's creativity, that story made an impression on me. It made me think yes, I can spare some change for someone who needs food or water or just proof that passersby aren't indifferent to their existence.

I recently went to my daughter's college graduation. Expecting to sit through a long, dull commencement address, I was surprised to find myself riveted by the dynamic speech Michael Alexander, the Interim Vice President of Global Diversity & Inclusion at Portland State University, gave. In a time when so many people are shouting, this soft-spoken man made a powerful statement about the problems of poverty and shootings and racism in a way that left my family and I awed and determined to answer his call to action.

The day after the ceremony, my husband and I left for our pilgrimage to Glasgow, where his father was born in 1922. Walking around the university there, we saw a multitude of waving banners that bore the words “World Changers,” and I felt heartened that the school was openly asking its students to do more than pursue a comfortable life made possible by a lucrative career. 

Bad news is literally streaming in our ears, but inspiration is there, too, and its messenger could be anyone – a relative, a friend, a stranger, a student or you.