Exquisite Collaboration Poem: Dearest Me, In Hindsight

To kick off the poems for 2024, participants were asked to give a piece of advice to their younger self.

Photo by Daoudi Aissa on Unsplash

DEAREST ME, IN HINDSIGHT

Lil' T, you are loved and wanted, not a broken, expensive mistake.
Don't sacrifice your soul's dreams for a boyfriend.
Don't shrink yourself to hide in his small shadow.
Worry less about what others think, and more about being your authentic and unique self.
You will get hurt a lot, it comes with life, but don't give up and don't give in.
You can do more than you think you can, but you need to be tough.
You will look back on this time and be thankful for the lessons learned.
Stand up for yourself even when it's painful.
Be brave as you learn to be kind.
Be aware of the influence you have on people.
You are going to be surprised by those who reach out and thank you for believing in them.
It's arrogant to think that anyone but you cares.
Do what interests you, even if no one else is interested.
People will like you; you can be likable without changing yourself.
Be unapologetically yourself even more than before.
You know you.
You do what you feel.
Trust your gut.
Hang on, it really does get better!
Enjoy what God has provided, thankfully.
Keep the Main Thing the main thing.
But stop eating sugar now!
If you're ever 12 again, too bored to look at some gravestone in Nova Scotia, go anyway. That 4th gr-grandfather fought for the colonists at Bunker Hill.

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THE PROMPT:
Participants were asked to provide one sentence of advice they'd give to their younger self, with the understanding that if they provided more the sentences might be separated and woven in with contributions from other people. Other than that, contributions were left as they were submitted, with only minor tweaks for spelling or punctuation to help with the poem’s flow. What we ended up with was a collaborative letter to ourselves, to remember where we came from and where we're going.

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THE POETS:
Coriander in the Spice Rack
LDA
Justin Rielly
Lori B. Duff
Sue A. Fairchild
Crystal Hayduk
Cora Scott Cole
Kpmorris
Laurie B
JETS
Jill Marie Thomas
Tina Hunt
Nancy Purdy
Fred
Marta L
Jean Marie
Jodie
RTB
Anne Murphy

OUR POETS HAIL FROM:
Canandaigua, NY
Rochester, NY
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
Spencerport, NY
Milton, PA
Lost in my head
and other places in:
New York State
Pennsylvania
Michigan
Ohio
Texas
Florida

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This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work with no one seeing what the other participants contributed. My goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment.  What began as a way to maintain some sort of connection with other people during the early days of the Covid lockdown has continued to unite strangers from around the world in creative collaboration.
Happy creating!
Joanne Brokaw
author, performer, teaching artist

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