Kathryn Varuzza's Open Salon Blog

How Low Will I Go? (a poem about hard times)

Wed, 5 Aug 2009 17:08:58 -0400

How Low Will I Go?

The debt collectors

Call all day

The toilet leaks

There are big debts

To pay.

The phone might not work

The cable bill is due

The bank is circling

Calling

How are you?

The common fees pile up

The car is out of gas

There is no income

And I can't even

Afford Mass.

The shoe has

A hole in it

The TV is blurry

There is little food left

What is the worry?

The people ask me

What will you do?

I answer and say

I haven't a clue.

The economy is bad

The jobs, they don't pay

But hey, they all shout

Have a nice day!

I thought people might enjoy this poem because it reflects what is happening to so many of us during this "economic downturn".

My Father

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:06:48 -0400

Yesterday was Father's Day. My father passed away in 2000, so I haven't had a father to celebrate Father's Day with for a while.

My father wasn't the best father on earth, nor was he the worst. He got up each day and went to work at a job he couldn't stand in order to support his wife and 7 kids.

He taught us how to ride bikes, and how to ice skate. He carved the Halloween pumpkins after all 7 of us kids had a chance to offer our ideas on how it should look. How we ever agreed on one design amazes me, now that I think about it.

He bought the Christmas trees and set them up; even though he didn't really like Christmas.

He was the family doctor, we only went to the real doctor if we were really, really, really sick.

He could be very gentle and very patient, and he could also erupt like an angry volcano without much warning.

He did some things that have been very hard to forgive.

But, I have forgiven him for the most part.

Since, I am a parent myself, I understand my parents better, and it is easier to forgive them for their mistakes, and lapses of judgement.

I think, fathers, are just like anyone else. They aren't perfect, even though we wish they were. They are human. They can be wonderful, they can be horrible, and everything in between; but at the end of the day, they are our fathers for better or worse.

And we need to make the most of it; and deal with that fact the best way we can; no matter what kind of father we ended up with.

Believing

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:04:35 -0400

All inventions come from the unknown. All the great artists, writers, musicians and celebrities once were unknown and ignored. The only way anything ever gets created or anyone changes the world is by their believing in the unseen, and the unknown.

Having faith to keep going, keep believing, and taking that next step. Living with not knowing how you will pay the rent, how you will get published, how your music, or art will be received.

You live with that doubt, that pressure anyway, despite what everyone says and thinks. You keep going. You keep writing even when everyone says you should go get "a real job", you keep painting, and making music living on faith, not being able to answer those horrible How questions. How will you pay the rent? How will you survive? You don't know, you just know you will.

Until that sweet, sweet day when your book is finally published, your art work sells, your song gets accepted or played on the radio, And all becomes clear, what you've known all along that you were meant to shine, your words, your music, your art, declared magnificient.

Yes, success is amazing and well earned for it is our reward for believing in miracles.