Instructions on Not Giving Up

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2017

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Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

“The Conditional” by Ada Limón (2013)

This poem is a plea to a lover to remain despite the disappointments life might offer. The poem uses nature imagery like “Instructions on Not Giving Up,” albeit of a more destructive sort. Limón employs a similar theme about resilience and appreciating the moment despite its not being ideal. Even if the worst comes to pass—“we never get to see it: bright / future, stuck like a bum star” (Lines 9-10)—the poet hopes the lover will “still want this: us alive” (Line 17).

“How to Triumph Like a Girl” by Ada Limón (2015)

This poem appeared in the collection Bright Dead Things, and like “Instructions on Not Giving Up” it uses an extended metaphor taken from the natural world. Here the poet notes that the strong heart of a female horse lies inside her tiny body. It knows she will triumph despite the odds. This poem centers on resilience like “Instructions on Not Giving Up” but is a more brash take on that theme.

“The Leash” by Ada Limón (2018)

This poem is also from The Carrying and again deals with despair at life’s difficulties. Limón points out the cruelties of war, the hate people perpetuate, the poisoning of the Earth. During the simple task of walking her dog, the poet begs the reader and the dog, “Don’t die” (Line 11, 25). She suggests, as in “Instructions on Not Giving Up,” that resilience can be found even during the “speeding passage of time” (Line 31). One must remember to be grateful for the momentary marvels of life.

Further Literary Resources

“Suzi F. Garcia in Conversation with Ada Limón” at Poetry Foundation (2022)

Limón converses with Suzi F. Garcia about poetry and identity. She discusses how her mother’s art influenced her own way of looking at the world, her childhood, her creative process, the importance of transformation, and her position as a Latinx writer. Limón’s discussion of how it’s necessary to explore both the “blooming” of the world as well as its real hardship relates thematically to “Instructions on Not Giving Up.” Limón also discusses her new poetry collection, The Hurting Kind (2022)

An Interview with Ada Limón by Suzannah Windsor (2013)

In this interview for the journal Compose, Limón discusses her writing background, her family, respecting her Mexican heritage while honoring her individual voice, and her desire to have her poems “help people recommit the world we are living in, to the ugly mess and beautiful strangeness of it.” This philosophy correlates to the thematic juxtapositions in “Instructions on Not Giving Up” (2017).

“Ada Limón’s Poem ‘Instructions on Not Giving Up’ Is the Perfect Anthem for Spring” for Oprah Daily (2021)

On April 5, 2021, the website Oprah Daily posted Limón’s essay on how she came to write “Instructions on Not Giving Up.” Limón refers to her past, when she used to think she “wrote poems in order to help readers recommit to the world.” Now, she’s “realized the person I am writing for most is myself.” She discusses the very moment that sparked the creation of “Instructions on Not Giving Up,” a walk in her neighborhood in Kentucky after a “particularly hard winter.” Despite the flowering spring trees around her, she “remained stuck at the bottom of the well” until she saw the way a tree’s “leaves were unfurling” which was a “lesson in resilience.” She then went home and wrote the poem standing in her kitchen after the walk. Limón also discusses how readers found solace in this poem during the pandemic and her continuing interest in “ongoingness.”