What I thought was an end turned out to be a middle. What I thought was a brick wall turned out to be a tunnel. What I thought was an injustice turned out to be a color of the sky.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the idea that perceived obstacles and endings can often lead to new beginnings and perspectives.
In this quote, Tony Hoagland explores the transformative nature of perception, revealing how life experiences that initially seem like finality or barriers can actually be gateways to new insights and opportunities. The imagery he uses—a middle instead of an end, a tunnel instead of a wall, and a color of the sky instead of an injustice—symbolizes the unexpected beauty and possibilities that can arise from our challenges, encouraging a shift in perspective.
In practice
Using this quote in a motivational speech to inspire resilience in the face of challenges.
So much of what I love about poetry lies in the vast possibilities of voice, the spectacular range of idiosyncratic flavors that can be embedded in a particular human voice reporting from the field. One beautiful axis of voice is the one that runs between vulnerability and detachment, between 'It hurts to be alive' and 'I can see a million miles from here.' A good poetic voice can do both at once.
When you're a student of poetry, you're lucky if you don't realize how untalented you are until you get a little better. Otherwise, you would just stop.
I have to march because my mother could not have an abortion.
If we don't change from a world society that worships money and power to one that worships compassion and generosity, I think we'll be extinct by mid-century. I don't say that as an alarmist or as a pessimist.
The bicycle freed 19th-century women from their homes and from their dependence on men. I hope that in Saudi Arabia, the car will do the same.
I was brought up to be uncompromisingly bloody-minded by my mother. She equipped me, without knowing it, to be someone who is creative rather than an entertainer. Not many girls are brought up like that, to never rely on a man. To not be a housewife, not be a mother.
The world has entered an era of the most profound and challenging change in human history.
Self-deception ultimately explains Japan's plight. The Japanese have never accepted that change is in their interest - and not merely a response to U.S. criticism.
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