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This week’s guest on Poetry from Daily Life is Charles Ghigna — Father Goose — who lives in Homewood, Alabama. Charles has been a writer for fifty years and loves to “celebrate life through the eyes of children.” Charles has authored more than 100 books and 5,000 poems. He has given readings at The Library of Congress and at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His newest books are "The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s First Poems," illustrated by Eric Carle (Random House), and "The Father Goose Treasury of Poetry for Children: 101 Favorite Poems" (Schiffer Kids). One unique fact about Charles is that he does not own a cell phone. ~ David L. Harrison
What wakes you with new hope every morning? What fills your dreams at night? What keeps you going toward those dreams and goals each day? It’s that little voice inside your head that says, “I can do it!”
Sometimes that little voice fades into a whisper. Sometimes duties of the day get in the way and completely drown out that little voice. That’s when we need a little motivation, a little inspiration to keep going.
One of the ways to recapture that self-motivation is to have a handy little rhyme in mind. Repeating those little affirmations out loud can serve as the little spark that reignites your imagination!
A few years ago when I needed a spark to keep me on my path to inspiration, I began writing little motivation rhymes that grew into a book titled "SCORE! 50 Poems to Motivate & Inspire." That little award-winning book has since been adopted by school systems as part of their Character Development programs with principals reading a poem-a-day from it during their morning announcements. Coaches and teachers began making posters from the book and hanging them in their classrooms and locker rooms. Here are a few samples from that book.
I hope you find a rhyme or two to help you renew your wishes, goals, and dreams. You might even become inspired to write a few of your own!
Don’t search for inspiration when
You have a task to do;
Just start your work and you will see
That it will soon find you.
Don’t be afraid to dream aloud
The things you want to do;
Just saying what is in your heart
Will help your dreams come true.
Consider the little ant.
He never says, “I can’t,”
And so it comes as no surprise,
He carries things ten times his size.
Do not let fear confine your life
Inside a shell of doubt;
A turtle never moves until
His head is sticking out.
Adversity is what it takes
To see our goals ascend;
In order for the kite to rise,
It flies against the wind.
Each time our troubles test our will
We wonder of their use
Until we learn to keep them from
Becoming an excuse.
It doesn’t take an army
To think what can be done;
One person with just one idea
Is more than ten with none.
The path to inspiration starts
Upon the trails we’ve known;
Each stumbling block is not a rock,
But just a stepping stone.
Never doubt what you can do
No matter what the chore;
Success comes when we care enough
To do a little more.
Close your eyes and look inside,
A mirror shines within;
To find where you are going,
First see where you have been.
The move from failure to success
Takes more than simply grit;
It starts when you first realize
You know you’ll never quit.
Charles Ghigna — Father Goose — is the author of more than 100 books published by Disney, Random House, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and more than 5,000 poems that appear in anthologies, textbooks, syndicated newspapers, and magazines ranging from Harper’s and The New Yorker to Highlights and Cricket magazines. For more information, go to FatherGoose.com.
