Every adventure has to begin with a dream, and in For Every One, Jason Reynolds has written a beautiful and inspirational clarion call to dreamers everywhere.

 

Extract taken from For Every One
by Jason Reynolds
Published by 404 Ink and Knights Of

 

THIS LETTER ISN’T

for any specific

kind of dream.

It isn’t intended

for a certain genre,

medium,

trade, or

denomination.

 

It is only intended

FOR THE COURAGEOUS.

 

Maybe you are a dancer

moving to the sound of your own future;

or a musician

banging strumming bowing plucking

blowing into,

creating soundtracks

for dream trains chugging along

through thick night;

 

or a painter

spilling and splattering confessions

across the face of stretched canvas;

or an actor

praying at the altar

of your alter ego;

or a photographer,

finger on the button

like a quick-draw cowboy,

shooting

not to kill anyone

but to preserve forever;

 

or maybe even

a writer

for some strange reason,

writing expert books,

pages of good intention

and rah-rah and fantasy

and sometimes truth,

or maybe even letters to people

you don’t know but

do know you love.

 

Or maybe you aren’t

an artist at all.

 

DREAMS AREN’T

RESERVED FOR

THE CREATIVES.

 

Maybe you’re an athlete,

a gladiator hoping for

a shot at the lion.

Maybe you’re eighteen

and plan to make your first million

by twenty-five

(it’s not impossible).

Or maybe you’re eighteen

and plan to make it to twenty-one

(it’s not impossible, nor is

twenty-two twenty-three twenty-four).

 

At twenty-five I moved back in with my

mother

and found out

she loved to teach

little kids,

and bake,

and help the needy –

her passion made plain,

her dream made real

after forty years

of forty hours a week

behind a desk.

You might be fifty

and think it’s too late.

 

JUMP ANYWAY.

 

Dreams don’t have timelines,

deadlines,

and aren’t always in

straight lines.

 

JUMP ANYWAY.

 

OR MAYBE

your dream is to have a family,

to wear corny T-shirts

and hold up signs

and be the cameraman

at the little one’s

games.

 

To kiss your child

on head and heart,

selflessly fertilizing

his or her passion.

Stay awake with them

when the dream

is crying

like a colicky infant;

 

help them feed it

and before sleep

do your best to

smother

that tiny ember

of doubt and fear

that glows

beneath the brush.

 

THIS LETTER

IS FOR

US ALL.

 

The awkward angels

with crooked halos and

second-hand wings.

The irresponsible

and curious

fire-bellied babies.

The deformed, with

hearts on the outside

and ears on the inside.

The squares who

use nine-to-five cubes

as planning sessions

for the real work.

 

For the rebel children,

the wild ones

the long-shots

the bad-mouthed

the side-eyed

the terribly terribly

terribly envied

secretly

by the safe.

For those who bear the cross –

the two perpendicular

planks of passion –

who find life is best

when nailed to it.

 

For the jumpers.

For the jumpers.

For the jumpers.

 

THIS LETTER

IS FOR US ALL,

to remind us

that we are many.

That we are right

for trying.

That purpose is real.

That making it is possible.

 

For Every One by Jason Reynolds is published by 404 Ink and Knights Of, priced £5.00