1. Read the poem 

2. Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you

3. Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…

4. Use the selection of prompts below the poem

5. Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…

6. Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes

The Good News

The good news
they do not print. 
The good news 
we do print. 
We have a special edition every moment, 
and we need you to read it. 
The good news is that you are alive, 
that the linden tree is still there, 
standing firm in the harsh winter. 
The good news is that you have wonderful eyes 
to touch the blue sky. 
The good news is that your child is there before you, 
and your arms are available: 
hugging is possible. 
They only print what is wrong. 
Look at each of our special editions. 
We always offer the things that are not wrong. 
We want you to benefit from them 
and help protect them.
The dandelion is there by the sidewalk, 
smiling it’s wondrous smile, 
singing the song of eternity. 
Listen. You have ears that can hear it. 
Bow your head. 
Listen to it. 
Leave behind the world of sorrow, 
of preoccupation, 
and get free. 
The latest good news 
is that you can do it.

Thich Nhat Hanh
https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/

Note: Next Read Around is:
July 9 at 4:00 PM PST

My Thoughts

The so-called news, whether read, watched or heard, is rarely uplifting. Now that we are a global community, any catastrophe anywhere in the world can be piped into our living rooms or delivered to our wearables wherever we are. Informative—it can be. Helpful—to a degree. The constant onslaught of trouble and tragedy, repeated in glorious detail, causes stress and casts the world as a dangerous and capricious place. The imagery it streams into us or we create to make sense of it not only impacts our mood and emotion in the moment, it affects and shapes our worldview. After all, it is “news,“ which is another way of saying it is how the world is. Consequently, we must, on some level, reconcile ourselves to the world the new shows us.

We each have our own limits of tolerance. In the world of pharmaceuticals the difference between treatment and toxicity is often the dosage amount. The Buddhist poet and spiritual master Thich Nhat Hanh offers an alternative source to the cesspool of negativity from the standard news channels, a source he calls “The Good News,” which has a special edition every moment. Tune in to that and we remember a list of wonders. He reminds us that the moments of our lives are precious and beseeches us to benefit from them, to help protect them, and, beyond this custodial role, to look and listen for the preciousness and beauty of everyday moments in everyday life.

Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition, located in Thenac, France.

Prompt Menu

1. Write about a moment when the news, either on TV or from other media, powerfully and memorably impacted you.

2. Pick some big events in your life, good and bad, and write a poem with news headlines about them.

3. Write a list of “good news“ about you and your lifetime in the style of the poet. Use the prompt, the good news is…

4. Watch, read, or listen to the news, pick out a few headlines or string of commentary, and compose a poem out of those found lines.

5. Write about how you might benefit from or help protect the moments of your every day life? How do you fulfill the role as custodian of the moments of your life?

6. Does your inner newscaster typically deliver good news or bad news? Write lines of verse in the newscasters voice. Or write about an every day incident by describing it in a newscasters voice.  

7. As usual, write about anything else that inspires you from the poem or elsewhere in life.