I Wish I'd Written This

How to Live Forever

 By Buddah Moskowitz

“Well,

not every experiment works.

We try and learn from the stuff

that doesn’t work as well.

Not everyone can discover penicillin,

you know.

So,

even though you still

have not unlocked

the mystery of mortality

perhaps,

you amused  yourself,

and that’s something.

The captain said

“the reward is in the doing,

and if that’s not the truth,

then you

better find something else

to do.”

Whatever you’ve got

in front of you,

lowly and modest

though it be,

experience it,

live it,

inhale it,

jump in it

and splash about

and from that

make something

that will outlast you:

the best would be

if you made

your life

a glorious gift,

freely given

to everyone.

It would be

so beautiful,

that your love would

outlast you,

outlive you,

and that’s’ how

you live

forever.”

 

Buddah Moskowitz, whose blog is called I Hate Poetry, nevertheless manages to produce poems that other people don’t hate a bit. He often follows the prompts at dVerse, so you may be familiar with his work already. You may even have seen this recent piece. In fact I know several of our PU people, including me, have commented already – but I think this wise and lovely message deserves a wider audience. And, with the holiday season almost upon us (at least in the Western world) I thought it would be nice to present something positive.

This poet prefers to be known only by his pseudonym, and by his blog profile pic of Michelangelo's David run to fat, which always makes me smile. But he has supplied some information:

"Buddah Moskowitz has been writing "poetry" since 1978 and hopes to someday write well enough to lose the ironic quotation marks.  He writes mostly as a form of therapy and tries to be amusing and accessible in his works.

His favorite form is the "poemonologue" – writing designed to be performed in character, which builds on his love of theatre, stand-up comedy and performance art.  

When he isn't writing, he works in higher education and co-teaches the Family-to-Family education courses for the National Alliance on Mental Illness with his beloved bride.
His dream is to perform his poemonologues on Broadway, preferably on-stage, inside a theatre."

Self-deprecating he may be, but there is nevertheless a serious commitment to his writing revealed in that statement, and in the fact that he keeps on doing it. 

If you haven't discovered him yet, there are lots more gems at his blog.

Meanwhile, thank you Buddah, for giving us such excellent instructions how to live forever!

Material shared in 'I Wish I'd Written This' is presented for study and review. Poems, photos and other writings remain the property of the copyright owners, usually their authors.