the second best time is now
the best time was twenty years ago
the second best time is now
don’t think yourself out of it
start that shit today
it’s not too late
if you are here
and you’re breathing
and you’ve got a little juice left
it’s never too late, my friend
this whole thing about missing
your window, that you’re too far
gone, that you already are over
the fucking hill…it’s an illusion!
no one knows how long they
have left on this planet…no one!
so why let other people’s opinions
hold you back any more than
they already have…
I know why you’re not doing it
you’re afraid someone will mock you
that they’ll look at you with scorn
and contempt, thinking who does
this fool think she is — starting over…
who says you can’t start a new thing?
who says every adventure has to flow
logically from some previous event?
you’re not a fucking resume…
you’re a new person every time
you open your eyes…
you aren’t a memoir in the making,
you aren’t that stupid little 200-word
bio all the professional people ask
you for…you aren’t an elevator pitch
or a running list of everything you
have or haven’t done…
you are a newborn
you’re kicking and screaming
you’ve taken your first breath
now stop crying and grow
Garbage Notes:
I have to give another thanks to Dr. Rob Gilbert for this one. In a recent post I had talked about this former professor of mine from Montclair State University. And how he always has these brilliant little nuggets of advice on his daily success hotline.*
Well, this poem I wrote after hearing one of his messages where he talked about how it’s never too late to start that thing you’ve always wanted to start.
As someone who started writing relatively late in life as a sort of desperate attempt at a second career, I know what it’s like to live most of your life doing what other people expect you to do and being afraid to pursue that one dream that you thought maybe you might be great at.
You keep chugging along, faking it till you make it, and then things fall apart, and you wonder why you thought you could ever get away with doing something with only half your heart…
Finally one day you wake up and realize, shit, what do I actually want to do with myself—with my life? What if I actually took a chance and tried something different—something new?
Maybe you want to write a book. Maybe you want to start reading your secret poetry out loud. Maybe you want to start making videos on the internet. Or painting. Or taking photographs. Maybe you want to be the one person everyone goes to when it comes to that one thing, that one topic, that one area of expertise that you are completely and utterly obsessed with.
That’s what passion looks like. You should never be afraid to explore it. And you shouldn’t be afraid to follow it at any age. No matter the sunk costs.
Whatever it is, whatever you’re doing now, it’s never too late to start. Sure, maybe the best time to start was twenty years ago. But seriously, the second best time is now.
*973-743-4690 - Dr. Rob Gilbert’s Success Hotline
Franco Amati 2026
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Simply incredible Franco. The quiet fervor in your voice oozes the passion you speak of. I needed to read something like this today. Been hesitating a lot in my life lately, and your words hit me with the fire I desperately needed. THANK YOU.
That ending. You have a knack for ending poems on a mic drop line. May we all go kicking and screaming into some new passionate future that is our own.