“Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?”

For all of you asking for advice, listen to the motivational Ron Koertge and his build in “Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?” He starts out sounding very downtrodden and tells the reader to take baby steps, to get up and get out into the world. Then, he acquiesces to the reader’s desire to always carry a writing utensil but says at least spice it up and “on the front, a kitten or a spaceship.” Next comes some advice that turtlenecks and idyllic houses, or other things that stand for rich people, are not to be trusted. Libraries are good places to write in the cheap notebook that the reader is allowed to carry and the best place to write is by the biography shelves or “ranks of the dead” where there are almost no people. The only distraction would be a child who is making a tower out of books while his mother browses. Ron Koertge then recaptures the reader’s attention saying “You who asked for advice, listen…” He is saying focus here, your attention span is so short that you cannot even focus for the duration of this poem but you can do it! “Be like that child…” be so carefree that the best known rule, keep quiet in a library, is nothing to you! Be the trendsetter, let the world say no but “then start again”, don’t let disapproval stop you, make sure that you continue being your own person and not just another turtleneck. The poem builds into this climax and Ron Koertge uses this build up to whip the reader into a frenzy, ready to go out and tackle the world.