Back in the late 80s and early 90s, in Metro Manila, I collected a lot of poetry, anecdotes, and quotes, among others. Three of my favorites are Hugh Prather‘s “Notes to Myself: My Struggle to Become A Person”, Joe Pintauro‘s “Kites at Empty Airports”, and Rod McKuen‘s “In Someone’s Shadow”.
In the late 90s, someone gave me a copy of “Living, Loving, and Learning” by Leo Buscaglia and it instantly became a favorite. I added it to my list.
I’ve tried so many times to look for collections like theirs but I have been unable to. I’m sure there are a lot of awesome poets and authors all over the world, but none has given me the kind of effect that I experienced the minute I started reading Pintauro, McKuen, Prather, and Buscaglia.
It’s quite difficult to get a copy of their collections now, so I haven’t had the chance to replace the copies that I lost. And I haven’t been able to share their works with my friends. So, I decided to just put some of them here so you can experience the magic of their thoughts and words, too.
BY HUGH PRATHER (From “Notes to Myself: My Struggle to Become A Person)
- I sometimes react to making a mistake as if I have betrayed myself. My fear of making a mistake seems to be based on the hidden assumption that I am potentially perfect and that if I can just be very careful, I will not fall from heaven. But a mistake is a declaration of the way I am, a jolt to the way I intend, a reminder I am not dealing with the facts. When I have listened to my mistakes, I have grown. (Side note: I used to be really worried – even afraid – of making mistakes because I thought that people would either get mad at me or make fun of me, or think that I’m stupid. Reading this several times a day really helped me overcome my fear of making mistakes.)
- My trouble is I analyze life instead of live it. (I know this will resonate with a lot of people.)
- It seems that I have to get in touch with my desire to hurt before I can get in touch with my desire not to hurt.
- If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing then the desire is not to write. (This has motivated me a lot of times – times when I didn’t feel the “inspiration” to write.)
- I believe that solitude is a profound and needed act of self-love and self-appreciation. (I say this to myself when I want to be alone but am reluctant to be so because of what people may think. This has become some sort of an affirmation for m.)
- I don’t want to listen to listen to just what you say. I want to feel what you mean.
- Love is not saying nice things to people or smiling or doing good deeds. Love is love. Don’t strive for it, BE IT.
- Ideas are clean. They soar in the serene supernal. I can take them out and look at them; they fit in books, they lead me down that narrow way. And in the morning, they are there.
BY JOE PINTAURO,
from the collection
Kites at Empty Airports
COLD
deep down, i was glad
it was cold, for while
i was keeping you warm
i was secretly loving you ❤
BLACK MOON
the moon is nothing
but black rock in black sky
without the sun
to give it to us
round and silver in dark velvet
heaven every night
BLUE GREEN
this close i can see
the veins of your face
through your miraculous skin
your eyes' light
blue intelligence discovering
mine are green
my green must speak
all my promises, my truth
the green you see when you look into me this
way
is all the words i have left
your face means
so much to my life.
THE ONLY PEBBLE
the
blonde hairs
of
your back
dazzled
the
afternoon
at
night i watched
you asleep
with
i love you
still on your lips
you
are the only
pebble
on
the beach
i
am the moon.
ROD MCKUEN,
from the collection
In Someone's Shadow
1.
Lie down and leave your imprint in the sand,
my hand will trace it into everything I need.
That's how reality begins,
shadows made something real
or reality turned back into a shadow.
I need the sureness of the shadow world again
To make me whole.
2.
I need the comfort
of a friendly back or belly
Seen sometimes in magazines
Or made up in my mind.
3. NIGHT
I can just about get through the day
but the night makes me nervous.
Not for any reason
except maybe that it catches you unaware
and follows you the way a woman follows
when she wants something.
I've been in every kind of night
so I shouldn't be afraid of darkness
but still the night makes me nervous.
4. BEND DOWN AND TOUCH ME
Bend down and touch me with your eyes
Make every morning hold a new surprise,
then when I stumble from my sleep
yours is the first face that I'll see.
And as I amble through the day
be there to guide me all along my way.
If I should falter and fall
your shoulder's near enough to touch.
Follow me from darkness into light
then we'll go back again
through every midnight.
Bend down and touch me with your eyes
Let every evening hold a new surprise.
So when I tumble into sleep
yours is the last face that I'll see.
5. I'LL CATCH THE SUN
I'll catch the sun
And never give it back again.
I'll catch the sun
and keep it for my own.
And in a world where no one umderstands
I'll take my outstretched hand
and offer it to anyone
who comes along and tells me
he's in need of love.
In need of hope or maybe just a friend.
Perhaps in time I'll even share my sun
with that new anyone
to whom I gave my hand.
BY LEO BUSCAGLIA, quotes from Living, Loving, and Learning
• You are all you have. Therefore, make yourself the most beautiful, tender, wonderful, fantastic person in the world. And then you will always survive.
• Perhaps love is the process of my leading you gently back to yourself….Not to where I want you to be, but to who you are.
• Words are the freezing of reality.
• Love is life in all of its aspects. And if you miss love, you miss life. Please don’t.
• Starting each day, I shall strive to be more aware of the beautiful things in our world.
• The hardest battle you are ever going to have to fight is the battle to be just you.
• Education should be the process of helping everyone to discover his uniqueness.
• The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.
