Welcome to Sunday Morning Lyricality, featuring a weekly song or poem by a Minnesota writer.
When will we get back to normal? This poem may be asking us to consider that the door to the past–what was— has been bricked in. Perhaps we can find a wild new opening, one that asks us to live. Is something beckoning you to journey bravely into the urgent now of your life?
–Tracy Rittmueller
[a door asks you to live]
Betsy Johnson
a door asks you to live
between was and
will be. hey. you.
do not stand there
pounding on a door
that has been bricked
in. turn. walk on.
into the wild new opening.
*****
Betsy Johnson is an instructor at the College of St. Benedict / St. John’s University where she teaches creative writing. She is also the creator/producer of the podcast A Hit of Hope, where you will find two- to four-minute episodes meant to be a tether, something to hold onto when you are overwhelmed. When it hurts, when you feel as if you can’t last one more minute, Betsy assures us—”we can get through this—whatever this is—together.”