Poems About Radios

So, many of you know that I appeared on NPR's Marketplace this past Wednesday in a segment about unemployment. What the segment failed to mention, however, is that I am a writer. Specifically, that I am a writer who has taken this time to write, to work on a project that focuses on the afterlife, and to further pursue a growing interest in women's health and gynecology.
 

I worry that the segment emphasizes a sense that something is lost, rather than a way of life that is being found.

I haven't listened to the series in full, so I do not if the realization of dreams in this market is in any way addressed, but my point and criticism that prompted the interview in the first place focused on the fact there is so much room for job growth and creation - it is simply not being assessed or reassembled in a way that is productive.

What I have found in the last several months is that I am leery of taking jobs I am overqualified for or jobs that are not fully invested in me. This is a hard game to play, but I go back to a firm belief in the inverse: that beggars can - nay, should - be choosers. Choosing is what enables a person to get to where they need to be in life while creating necessary boundaries of self-respect and integrity. What could be more important in a recessed economy than confidence?

And I am aware that I am lucky. I am lucky to have had my voice on public radio. I am lucky to have a father who has had the same job for 35 years. I am lucky to have such a beautiful, eclectic, supportive friend network.

What I think is that anyone collecting unemployment in this economy is lucky. Why? Because you get to choose. You get the option to change. You get the time and space to look at your life and find out what it is.

That is scary. That is a gift.

Here is a poem called Talk Radio. It is by the wonderful and contemporary poet Heather Christle. It, too, is about voice.

The jobs market to a 20-something