Emulation of Charles Harper Webb’s poem “How to Live”
Eat lots of cookie dough
and new foods that look strange, different than
what you are used to.
Laugh with your sister on the floor
during the ungodly hours in the morning
or in the afternoon or late at night.
Find a best friend that is able to understand you
better than you understand yourself. One who
knows what type of ice cream to bring you
when it’s needed and when to back off.
Keep a journal.
Not, as something to write out your most
personal feelings, but as something to
confuse the world when you die.
Read everyday; articles, fiction, poetry.
Try to understand it, but don’t beat
yourself up if you can’t.
Find your passion in the small mundane things.
Walking the dog, coffee from Tim Hortons,
and long road trips.
Don’t apologize for being yourself,
don’t hide behind a mask, and
don’t be an asshole.
Be grateful for everything in your life
good or bad, we all have things we wish to change,
so try to change them, but if you can’t let them be.
Push past your boundaries,
swim with sharks and turtles, float in the ocean,
look at the stars someplace far away from the city,
make up your own names for the constellations.
Listen to your favourite song on repeat
till you get sick of it, then one more time to
spark the love again.
Take long showers with hot water till the hot water
runs out. Watch Netflix for days. Go for a run every once
and a while, no one is watching you, I promise.
Recognize that everyone struggles in different ways,
and most people don’t show their lives on their sleeves.
Accept them for it anyways, they’ll try and accept you too.
Kick life in the ass.
Love authentically.
Smile for the camera.
Die with grace.
The inspiration for this poem came from looking at Charles Harper Webb’s poem “How to Live” that he did as a response to Sharon Old’s quote “I don’t know how to live.”
We did the poem in class at the beginning of the year and I wrote something right off the bat that I didn’t love but I knew that I wanted to do something with. I feel like this version describes what living means to me more than the first one did, that said, I think the amazing part of a prompt like this is that it can constantly change to what living means to you as you grow as a person.
