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A Toast to All Poets Here Assembled

by Ken Harnisch

May your best poems in the New Year
Be those from your heart
And not your brain;
From your love, and not your anguish;
From the vaults of your experience
Not the hard-knock lessons of life;

May your hurting poems
Be the ones that teach you;
Heal a breech;
Repair a wounded heart;
Even if it is yours alone

May you find one reader and one alone
For whom you write, to whom you write
And may that reader always hold you just as dear.

May your readers find the gleaming truth of the universe
From some nugget of yours, one you believed
Was just some private inner blip
On the cluttered radar screen of life.

May some comment on some poems of yours
Change your life forever for the best

May all your readers, critical or not,
Light up inside, just to know
You’ve posted yet another poem.

May you write on, by candlelight or sun
By computer or by pen
By muttered word or those
Scribbled on a cocktail napkin
Until a moment after
Your heart has beat its last.

01/20/2002

Posted on 01/20/2002
Copyright © 2025 Ken Harnisch

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Howard F Farewell on 10/02/02 at 06:13 AM

hi...just randomy moving around in here. and i must say very nice.

Posted by Christina Bruno on 11/19/02 at 02:33 PM

I adore this poem!

Posted by Rhodora M Fitzgerald on 03/17/03 at 05:09 PM

Very beautifully written Ken! This is the second read during my first visit to your library and already I'm enjoying my stay. :o)

Posted by Ginette T Belle on 05/06/03 at 07:24 PM

I clicked on this poem because there were 32 votes for it...now I know why...what an inspiring poem...it's too beautiful for words

Posted by Agnes Eva on 05/06/03 at 09:20 PM

a poem every poet should read, especially those just starting out. for me you've captured something special with "...some nugget of ours/ one you believed/ Was just some private inner blip " i remember feeling very alone in my thoughts as a teen, not knowing that what your line says is possible. it's such a positive poem! *all smiles*

Posted by Charles E Minshall on 05/07/03 at 03:43 AM

Fine poem, fine wishes Ken.....Charlie

Posted by Jean Mollett on 06/20/03 at 05:48 AM

Hi Ken, Beautiful, simply beautiful. Jean

Posted by Kate Donovan on 08/10/03 at 05:23 PM

i like this very much... being over halfway into the year, i've managed to make some of those things happen (particularly the parts about being hurt!) and i'm hoping that i did touch someone with my poetry at some point... this is great, i love it. :o)

Posted by Marjorie Anne Reagan on 07/04/04 at 05:25 AM

Amen now and always. Thank you for this.

Posted by Elizabeth Jill on 11/27/05 at 04:01 AM

Aye! �I love this! �every tender thought and strengthening word of it! So glad I came inside tonight! Ken Harnisch �> *Tashakkur!* �Jill

Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 03/18/06 at 03:19 PM

I lift my cup back to you and this fine poem!

Posted by Joan Serratelli on 03/27/09 at 11:42 AM

I agrree with each and every word....and I'll drink to that! GREAT write. Very enjoyable read!

Posted by Kris Mara on 04/16/09 at 05:15 PM

a wonderful toast -- filled with all a writer could hope for -- and I'm one of your readers, enjoying every word (and will be back to read more!)

Posted by Jody Pratt on 12/03/11 at 05:29 AM

This poem just had me looking for a "Like" option.

Posted by Alison McKenzie on 12/03/11 at 05:58 AM

Hahaha, I was, too, Jody!!! Right before I read your comment!! This should be the Writer's Blessing, hanging on each of our walls near the places we find our best inspiration!

Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 12/03/11 at 04:59 PM

Congrats on this fine POTD! Nice to read it again.

Posted by Kristine Briese on 12/03/11 at 06:09 PM

Wonderful sentiment. Congratulations on POTD!

Posted by Lori Blair on 12/03/11 at 10:15 PM

I am so happy to see this as POTD, it is a wonderful work of art in itself! Congrats! :)

Posted by Paganini Jones on 12/04/11 at 01:21 AM

Good to see this as POTD :) Congratulations.

Posted by Linda Fuller on 12/04/11 at 01:37 AM

Heartwarming and inspiring - marvelous POTD (and timely, too).

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