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Encouragement Zone
B. Keller's Poetry Collection ©
Encouragement Zone
B. Keller's Poetry Collection ©
"We Are Where We Are Supposed To Be"
(Inspired by Peter Weiss)
"We Are Where We Are Supposed To Be"
(Inspired by Peter Weiss)
March 15, 2018
We are always where we are
supposed to be.
Even when we don't plan it
that way or we don't think we are in the right place,
we are always where we are supposed to be
because we are always touching the person who needs to be touched or listening to the person who needs to be heard.
Even when it seems like we're just spinning our wheels and not really making any difference
we are where we are supposed to be.
"Untitled"
"Untitled"
March 15, 2018
You will never run me out
or make me question who I am
or what I've done.
You will not make me say "No" when I mean yes or cower in fear because of a title or the glare that accompanies a raised voice.
You will not mount me on your wall
fractured and broken as you have done to so many so often before me.
You will not bend me to your will or make me turn on myself.
You will not make me measure who I am
by what you think you see or what you think you know.
You will not make me use your words
your eyes and your dreams to define my world or carve out my destiny.
You will never brand me.
"Inspired by Imani"
November 27, 1995
"Inspired by Imani"
November 27, 1995
Even when there is nothing but the darkness,
the sky is filled with the smiles of a billion glittering stars.
"We Are All Just Waiting"
Inspired by Maya Angelou
September 16, 2012
"We Are All Just Waiting"
Inspired by Maya Angelou
September 16, 2012
We are all just waiting to happen,
just waiting for that one word or one smile
or one person.
We are all just waiting for that
one moment, that
one chance to happen,
but whatever or wherever we find ourselves -
some way, somehow
we are waiting,
and we are all just waiting to happen.
"The Only Thing Greater Than Yourself"
(For the Students of Mensa Dente )
January 1, 2000
"The Only Thing Greater Than Yourself"
(For the Students of Mensa Dente )
January 1, 2000
March 15, 2018
There is a majesty in your line.
There is courage and genuis and history
in your blood.
There are castles and royalty in your lives.
There is a future in your genes
planted by your people
you have never seen
who have cast their hopes on you
as one puts a message in a bottle,
and casts it into the ocean.
"Harvard"
(for the bespectacled elderly gentleman on the Harvard campus)
August 9, 1985
"Harvard"
(for the bespectacled elderly gentleman on the Harvard campus)
August 9, 1985
March 15, 2018
If you cannot be the best for yourself, do it for those who were denied an opportunity to be the best.
If you cannot fight the fight for yourself, do it for those who fought the wars, but were without the weapons.
If you cannot dream the dream for yourself, dream it for those who could dream but could never make dreams come true.
If you cannot love you for yourself, love you for those who loved you even as they stepped off of slave ships into the new world, or stood against those who said they were not men.
If you cannot be proud for yourself be proud for those who used pride to sustain themselves against the ties they were sentenced to ride in the back of the bus or braved wild dogs and open fire hoses in order to cast their votes for a candidate of their choice.
Do it for yourself if you can, but, whenever you cannot do it for yourself, do it for them.
"Comfort Zone"
September 15, 1999
"Comfort Zone"
September 15, 1999
March 15, 2018
I want to be that soft place you can land when you fall.
I want to be that warm place you can rest
your head and dream your dreams.
I want to be that place that welcomes you
without a second thought, that place that makes you laugh and lets you smile,
(even when you can't find anything to laugh about).
I want to be that place you hide all of the things you can't tell anybody else,
that place you go to when you want to be alone to think to yourself.
I want to be that place you can go
to be loved.
God is Up to Something
(Inspired by Rev. B.A. Lucas)
God is Up to Something
(Inspired by Rev. B.A. Lucas)
March 15, 2018
God is up to somethin'
You may not see it
or hear it coming.
It may not look like much of anything or seem
as if there is any way this thing can turn around,
but that's just the moment
God's got you right where He wants you,
because that's when you know
that God is up
to somethin'.
"In Honor of My Mother"
11/05/06
"In Honor of My Mother"
11/05/06
March 15, 2018
She was a doctor
a chef
a psychologist
and a teacher
all rolled up into one,
(and truth be told she was even a little bit of a magician since it seemed as if she could make a dollar last for a week).
We were taller and better educated, but we listened when she talked and we came whenever she called. Strong, but whisper-thin, she handled pregnancies and heavy bags alike.
We never heard her say
“I can’t do this”
or “This is just too hard.”
She tossed balls
jumped rope out ran us and played basketball against us.
She was at home with herself
whether she wore an outfit
from Saks Fifth Avenue or Bloomingdale’s or wore jeans and sneakers.
We dressed in Barney's and Macy's, and we lived in the projects, but we learned that it wasn't about what you wore or where you lived as much as it was about what you were on the inside.
We learned to be different and to carry ourselves differently, to expect more of ourselves and to be more than everyone else told her we would ever be.
B. Keller, MA