Wear Sunscreen — Poetry is for everyone #8
For the class of '99
Welcome to the latest edition of poetry is for everyone. Each week I intuitively send out a poem that is speaking to me that hopefully in some numinous way speaks to you too. It is my intention to keep the selection diverse and interesting and introduce you to some new writers along the way. Feel free to make suggestions or recommend your favourite poets/poems to the group in the comments.
This is one of my free weekly offerings however if you’d like greater access to me, my writing, the full back catalogue and all that Still Space has to offer then you might want to consider becoming a paid subscriber for just £1.05 a week when you take out an annual subscription. To upgrade to paid or to simply pop yourself on the free list to receive all the latest updates, hit the button below…
Remember this stone cold classic? Whilst we’ve been on a bit of a roll with the spoken word, this one inevitably came to mind and as ever I think it reads just as well as it listens. I can certainly meditate on it more deeply when I read it.
It turns out the original was an urban legend in and of itself so I’m going to say it was made more famous by Baz Luhrmann’s remix of the original lyrics for the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack — shoutout to Quindon Tarver and his iconic performance of Everybody’s Free that was sampled for the final track. Yeah why not, let’s share it here.
But the best part about choosing Wear Sunscreen this week is learning about its author, Mary Schmich, a Pulitzer winning journalist from Chicago.
As history would have it, perhaps because the speech became so popular, Mary was quickly forgotten and the speech became attributed to Kurt Vonnegut instead and then later to Baz Luhrmann himself, of course. The line, ‘Do one thing every day that scares you’ is also often wrongfully attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt. But published on June 1st 1997 as part of Mary Schmich’s column for the Chicago Tribune ‘Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young’, it was written as a hypothetical commencement speech were she ever asked to give one. Oh, how I wish I’d known about her then!
I love Wear Sunscreen because it fully encapsulates two of my most favourite things:
Contemplative wisdom
Nostalgia
Mary also later published it as a small gift book which was re-released in 2008 to celebrate its ten year anniversary. Lovely. Off to get me one of those. And I have also discovered a collection of her work for which she won her Pulitzer in 2012 for ‘her wide range of down-to-earth columns that reflect the character and capture the culture of her famed city’. The book is called Even The Terrible Things Seem Beautiful To Me Now and LOOK at it.
This pals. This is why we have to stay curious and follow our intuitive noses because who knew that my desire to connect with more poetry and share it with love would lead me to this wonderful writer and fabulous find that could not be more up my street! Nothing like a little nod from the universe to remind you that you’re exactly where you need to be. By the way I’ve checked and sadly, she’s not yet on Substack but I’m putting it out there that she’ll be joining us soon.
Below, in honour of Mary’s work I have included the original text’s address to the Class of ‘97 not the Class of ‘99 as we may know it. I hope for those of you that remember it, that you enjoy this trip down memory lane. I imagine it will resonate with you as it did me, a little differently some twenty-four almost twenty-five years on, (sheesh).
Happy Saturday!
Wear Sunscreen
by Mary Schmich
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’97
Wear sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future
Sunscreen would be it
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists
Whereas the rest of my advice
Has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth
Oh, never mind
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself
And recall in a way you can’t grasp now
How much possibility lay before you
And how fabulous you really looked
You are not as fat as you imagine
Don’t worry about the future
Or worry
But know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindside you at 4 PM on some idle Tuesday
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts
Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy
Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind
The race is long
And in the end, it’s only with yourself
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how
Keep your old love letters
Throw away your old bank statements
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life
The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives
Some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t
Get plenty of calcium
Be kind to your knees
You’ll miss them when they’re gone
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t
Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t
Maybe you’ll divorce at 40
Maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary
Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s
Enjoy your body
Use it every way you can
Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it
It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own
Dance
Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly
Get to know your parents
You never know when they’ll be gone for good
Be nice to your siblings
They are the best link to your past
And the people most likely to stick with you in the future
Understand that friends come and go
But for the precious few you should hold on
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle
Because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young
Live in New York City once
But leave before it makes you hard
Live in Northern California once
But leave before it makes you soft
Travel
Accept certain inalienable truths
Prices will rise
Politicians will philander
You too will get old
And when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young
Prices were reasonable
Politicians were noble
And children respected their elders
Respect your elders
Don’t expect anyone else to support you
Maybe you have a trust fund
Maybe you have a wealthy spouse
But you never know when either one might run out
Don’t mess too much with your hair
Or by the time you're 40, it will look 85
Be careful whose advice you buy
But be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia
Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off
Painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth
But trust me on the sunscreen
For those that want to properly reminisce and listen too, here’s the full length Baz Luhrmann version released in 1999 performed by Josh Abrahams with some oohs and ahhs courtesy of who else, Quindon Tarver.
I am now an affiliate of Bookshop.org so if you’d like to read more from any of the featured artists on our growing poetry curation, I have put together a selection on my page <3