I Am a Doubter Full of Faith
A poem by Angela Hoffman

I Am a Doubter Full of Faith
I’m trying to put myself out there. 
The storyline is that my family tribe cannot sing. 
Not one of us. 
But I was determined to write a new song. 
Learning to play the ukulele seemed a safe bet. 
I took a lesson, got a few books, watched some videos. 

Do Re Mi sounded a bit off, 
but I am a doubter full of faith
So I continued with my fingertips raw,
trusting I was making progress. 
I could soon switch chords.

I moved to You Are My Sunshine. 
I believed. They were wrong. 
My heart quivered as I strummed
until the day I was told the borrowed instrument 
was for left-handed players,
meaning my G was really their A, 
meaning every beautiful note I had sung, 
was upside down. 

About the Author:

Angela Hoffman lives in Wisconsin. With her retirement from teaching and the pandemic coinciding, she took to writing poetry. Her poetry has been widely published. Angela’s collections include Hold the Contraries, 2024, Olly Olly Oxen Free, 2023 (nominated for the Eric Hoffer Book Award), and Resurrection Lily, 2022 (KelsayBooks).
  https://www.facebook.com/angelahoffmanpoet/

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