Sarah Kay

You will put the wind in winsome.

Lose some.

You will put the star in starting over and over.

And no matter how many landmines erupt in a minute, be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life.

And yes, on a scale from one to overtrusting, I am...

Pretty damn naive.

But I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar.

It can crumble so easily, but don't be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it.

Baby, I'll tell her, remember your mama is a worrier and your papa is a warrior and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more.

Remember that good things come in threes and...

So do bad things, and always apologize when you've done something wrong, but don't you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining.

Your voice is small, but don't ever stop singing.

And when they finally hand you heartache, when they slip war and hatred under your door and offer you handouts on street corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother.

Well, I was 22 when I was given that opportunity.

And so all I knew was I was invited to a cool conference and maybe I'll learn some smart things.

That's about as much as I understood.

And I love performing poetry in lots of strange spaces.

That's a huge part of my joy.

And to me, this is just another strange space to share poems.

And of course, we didn't know that the TED platform would become so global and would become so widespread.