At Furnace Creek Farm‘s stand at Unions Square Market, we spotted Elixir No.03: COURAGE.

Since we can’t have some of the ingredients in it, we didn’t try it. But we sure would love to a bit of Courage to nip…

Instead, get courage boosts by other means… Alisa Barry’s Encouragement Cards:

…

…And POETRY, like Some Notes on Courage

Think of a child who goes out
into the new neighborhood,
cap at an angle, and offers to lend
a baseball glove. He knows
how many traps there are–
his accent or his clothes, the club
already formed.
Think of a pregnant woman
whose first child died–
her history of blood.
Or your friend whose father
locked her in basements, closets,
cars. Now when she speaks
to strangers, she must have
all the windows open.
She forces herself indoors each day,
sheer will makes her climb the stairs.
And love. Imagine it. After all
those years in the circus, that last
bad fall when the net didn’t hold.
Think of the ladder to the wire,
spotlights moving as you move,
then how you used to see yourself
balanced on the shiny air.
Think of doing it again.

—Susan Ludvigson in The Made Thing: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern Poetry.