Cover pessimism is for lightweights (Design Craig Oldham Dionne Pajarilla) by Selena Godden -
V McGarvey cc-by 2024
When I finished work (retired) a couple of years ago, I was going to do lots of things and learn many things. I am still unsure, did or didn't I, as the reflection appears to have lost its reflection, at least for the moment. So I write.
Along the way, some jolting bumps and major fences to vault, mostly familial in kind. My polarised feelings hit highs, and lows, laughter and sorrow intertwined, all the elements uncontrollable. And not a path to an endpoint but a path that doubled back before moving forward. I reflect on the world its sorrow, its genuine joy, its superficial joy as some would say. The violence, and political mania, we are motivated by helplessness, endlessly searching for a way to make a difference other than conscientious living. As we cut our cloth accordingly and our outfit unravels, we worry, will we keep the sleeves? Optimism is a heavy weave when the material is thinning. I turn to Selena Godden, words of contemplation and wisdom, in rhyme and verse, challenging conceptions, the misconceptions we carry, looking for inner depth, digging through the superficial surface expectations of easy solutions, to the enrichment of sustained hope.
... There is power and strength in optimism
To have faith and stay true to you
Because if you can look in the mirror
And have belief and promise you
Will share wonder in living things
Beauty, dreams, books and art
Love your neighbour and be kind
And have an open heart
...Pessimism is for lightweights
This road was never easy or straight
And living is all about living alive and lively
And I believe love will conquer hate.
Extract from Selena Godden's Pessimism is for Lightweights (2023)
Borrowed from the loca library