For a listener who asked for a poem on how to deal with the recent election:
Wisdom
To be so lucky –
To have bark that furls, yes
But still thick enough to weather storms
To have roots deep enough to find water
In the driest of times
To have branches that narrow
Into buds
So tiny and delicate
Many won’t make it
But so many others will bloom
No matter who is yelling from the podium
Or smirking on your screen
To know, inwardly,
That this is just a series of thin rings
Which of course are serious things
(All moments are)
But also are just moments
Just one ring, or four
Among a spiraling lifetime
It is hard to find hope in a storm
But the tall tree by the lake
Or on the mountain
Or the sprawling live oak in my back yard
All have seen withered years
All know the worst storms can seem
Like bad dreams
Maybe for trees they are
And yet somehow, you keep growing
Line by painful line
Knowing that somewhere, future you
Will look back, and wince
At the bad stretch that is long past.
Ah to be so lucky.
Typewriter Rodeo airs each Friday on Texas Standard. Send us your ideas for a poem on 
