Tadpoles and Broken Hearts
I believe there are three sides to every story
I believe puppies with puppy kisses and wagging tails
I believe the sun, except when it lies
I believe 1986 and 1995, but not 1978
I believe suffering reveals grace and beauty
I believe suffering causes heartache beyond yesterday
I believe irises and lilacs and ruby throated hummingbirds
I believe, though I don’t know why
I believe my dad smiled and my mom frowned
I believe in rain drops on hot dirt roads
I believe canyons should be viewed from above
I believe fear is a liar, except when it tells the truth
I believe no one wants to read this poem
I believe in words
I believe the brokenhearted are blessed
I believe my heart has been broken and healed and broken again
I believe someone understands
I believe tadpoles can’t survive in coffee cans
I believe slugs don’t deserve a festival
I believe love covers more sins than tolerance
I believe I might be wrong, but I don’t believe I am
I believe in mercy
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10/25/18: Shared for Meeting the Bar at dVerse Poets Pub where the topic is repetition. I think this fits, since it uses anaphora.
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I believe in the potency of your list! Truly, one of your best! 🙂
Thanks!
My pleasure! 🙂
Wonderful list, Linda! I laughed out loud at “I believe no one wants to read this poem”… I am glad I did 🙂
Yeah, there seems to be some controversy over that one. 😉
it is so good to read about the tangible and also intangible beliefs, i am moved to write my won after reading this. it so reminds me of a glad song, being happy with everything we have been blessed with.
What a delight to know I’ve been an inspiration!
This sounds like song lyrics….
Specially like: I believe the brokenhearted are blessed. Love the list of I believe.
I’m glad you liked that line and that I left it in. The teacher of the workshop I wrote it in said that line was “not surprising” and could be deleted. But I like it, so I left it in. 🙂
Leave line 13 in… it’s true to what you believed at the time. We can sometimes be wrong in our beliefs! I believe this is a great list poem.
Thanks. I’m definitely leaving it in, even if it’s not true, as a reminder to not always believe what I think. 🙂
I believe this is a lovely poem. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it.
Nice line: “I believe suffering causes heartache beyond yesterday” and also the one about fear being a liar except when it tells the truth.
I believe in the power of poetry, and I believe you had me at /rain drops on hot dirt roads/. This poem has a lot of sweep and verve, and its energy puts me in mind of Whitman.
Thanks. 🙂
What a wonderful blending of humor and truth and unanswered questions and truth! This is a marvelous example of anaphora!
Thanks. I enjoyed writing it and smile when I realize there are several lines that have hidden meaning only I know.
You’re wrong, of course – lots of us do want to read this poem. Great use of repetition – it comes out like a creed, and I love the mixture of the sublime and the mundane.
A great reminder to not believe everything you think. 😉
I love your beliefs. The things you believe in do not lie. I believe I am going to read this poem again.
Well, I guess that disproves line 13. I may have to reevaluate that particular belief.
Yeppers!
It’s good to believe, and you believe in lots of things 🙂
The repetition of I believe is something fitting the subject…. well done.. and a great mixtures of the small and mundane and the big matters.
I believe this poem is full of truth and wonder and I believe I will read it again, maybe several times.
I believe that is one of the nicest compliments a poem could hope to receive.
I believe this pushes against the cardboard boundaries that pen our thinking in, refusing to admit both the ying and the yang, the upsides and the downsides, the straight-forwards and the conundrums of life.
I gave you all the stars, but somehow the system shaved off half of one. I only believe in computers a little bit.
🙂 I believe I appreciate this comment.
I believe that line 13 is mistaken 🙂
Thank you. 🙂
I believe it’s hard to know what to believe but I do believe this to be a fine poem.
Thanks. I wrote it in a poetry workshop at a conference I attended yesterday.
Cool. You work fast.