Linda Ellis

LINDA ELLIS is the co-author of the book The Dash with Mac Anderson and had this to say about her popular poem of the same name that inspired the book…

While it still amazes me, a simple poem I wrote one afternoon forever changed my life. It all began when I faxed a copy of this poem to a syndicated radio show in Atlanta. Soon after receiving it, the host of this popular show read it on the air. Little did I know how much my life would change from that day forward.  Titled “The Dash,” these 36 lines have touched millions of lives and have literally taken on a life of their own by traveling all over the world. I call it  uncomplicated poetry in a complicated world, which became the slogan for my internet poetry company.

People are always asking me what, in particular, inspired me to write this poem. I believe it was a combination of things in my life at the time. It was during a  period when I was working for the top executives of a very large and successful corporation. It was a strict company with a tense working environment. I began to watch how the priorities in many lives there had become misaligned. It seemed to me that the bosses were worrying far too much about that which was inconsequential in the scope of life. Also, resonating in the back of my mind were the words from a letter which had been previously routed around the office. It had been written by the wife of an employee who was aware that she was dying. I was so moved by that letter that I saved a copy of it and continue to live by her words:

“Regrets? I have a few. Too much worrying. I worried about finding the right husband and having children, being on time, being late and so on. It didn’t matter. It all works out and it would have worked out without the worries and the tears.”