Advice to a Young Mormon Poet
Just know you are not the first
to take up your pen. Our people
crossed oceans and prairies
and wrote poems along the way.
Read their letters and diaries.
You’ll find poems scribbled
between lines and in margins.
And then read everything else,
not just the poems. We have lost
traditions. Find them.
Respond. React. Restore.
Do your homework. Recover
what we’ve forgotten as a rose
blossoming in the desert. But
don’t get mired in the past.
Treat it like a storehouse stocked
with two centuries of consecrated
goods. Engage the present.
Imagine futures. If you spot Zion
in the sky, put it in your pocket
for another day. We have enough
prophets and priests. We even
have plenty of poets, so nothing
you say will be entirely new.
It all comes down to how you say it.
Don’t echo the echo chamber.
Take up the divining rod. Dowse
with Oliver for something
hidden and new. Gaze with Eliza
at the glittering expanse. Follow her
into the wilderness. And, yes,
though it sounds trite, go to church.
Read your scriptures. Pray.
Scott Hales
