Instructions on Not Giving Up

“Instructions on Not Giving Up” (2017) is a 14-line Contemporary poem written by Ada Limón. It was first published online for the “Poem-a-Day” series by the Academy of American Poets and later appeared in Limón’s award-winning fifth collection, The Carrying (2018). Limón confirmed the autobiographical nature of the poem in an essay she wrote about its construction, saying she wrote it while struggling after a “particularly hard winter” (See: Further Reading & Resources). This poem is typical of many of Limón’s poems, which are well known for their themes of grappling with how life offers up the beautiful while at the same time confronting us with the difficult aspects of our mortality. “Instructions on Not Giving Up” is like the poet’s other free verse lyrics, where nature imagery conveys human emotions. The poem employs Limón’s usual technique of balancing detailed, vivid description with matter-of-fact speech. Limón has been widely lauded for her sense of honesty and her ability to convey emotion without excessive sentiment or subterfuge.

Poet Biography

Ada Limón was born on March 28, 1976, in Sonoma, California to working-class parents Kenneth Limón (a schoolteacher and principal) and the artist Stacia Brady. Limón’s grandfather was of Mexican heritage and crossed the border to the United States to escape the Mexican Revolution of 1916, and Limón identifies as Latin. Limón grew up with her older brother in small towns of Northern California, and her poetry often holds imagery of this Californian landscape. Although her parents were divorced when she was eight, Limón remained close to both, as well as their future spouses; she credits all “four parents” for their love and support which made her childhood “normal” (See: Further Reading & Resources).

After high school, Limón moved to Seattle to study theater at the University of Washington, earning her Bachelor of Arts in 1998. She was accepted to graduate school and moved to New York to study at New York University with the renowned American poets Philip Levine and Sharon Olds, whom she credits with making her a strong poet. She graduated with her Master of Fine Arts in 2001. As the recipient of a fellowship in 2001-2002 at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, she worked on her first manuscripts. Success came early. While working in New York City, she published her first two books—Lucky Wreck (2005) and Big Fake World (2006)—within nine months of each other. For 12 years, she lived in New York City and worked as a freelance writer, copywriter, and event planner. In 2010, she published her third collection, Sharks in the River.

In 2011, Limón relocated to Kentucky and, as of 2022, remains there with her husband, horse racing reporter Lucas Marquardt. Poems written during this period cover her youth in California, her life in New York City, and her return to the rural environment of Kentucky; In 2015, she published these poems in Bright Dead Things, which earned high praise from critics. The collection engages with the dualities of life and the struggle to find authenticity. The collection was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

This collection was followed by The Carrying (2018), in which “Instructions on Not Giving Up” appears. This collection, too, was met with wide praise, particularly for Limón’s sensitive discussion of infertility and identity. The collection won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. Limón received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship in 2020.

She began hosting the critically acclaimed poetry podcast The Slowdown in 2021. In an interview with Suzi F. Garcia for Poetry magazine, Limón discusses her luck, love of writing, and her place in the poetic landscape, as well as her drive for “quiet continuing” (“See: Further Reading & Resources). Limón’s seventh collection, The Hurting Kind, was published in 2022.

Poem Text

Limón, Ada. “Instructions on Not Giving Up.” 2017. Academy of American Poets.

Summary

Limón begins the lyric poem by describing the abundance of lovely blooms on a neighboring fruit tree. However beautiful these springtime blossoms are, what follows is more meaningful to the poet. After the showy petals fall to the ground, the “leaves come” (Line 9); observing this new growth on the trees, Limón correlates the fresh green “leaves” (Line 9) with regeneration after a harsh season, both in terms of weather and relationships. Life goes on, the tree metaphorically suggests, despite pain. In the poem’s concluding lines, Limón personifies the tree with a human voice and suggests it will open its hand to the world, willing to “take it all” (Line 14).