Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Staccato
Beautiful ones.
Most of my verses for you
will be private.
Most will be
shared only with us.
But you must know
how deep the feelings go.
Through the heart.
Pure joy on big son's face,
standing on the campus
before the doctors
brought news of
little son.
Pure perfection
in tiny babe's eyes
as she is born into
a world already
heart-broken.
Purity of heart in
Andrew.
Seven years.
Teacher of new ideas
and bringer of new friends.
(While others disappeared.)
Cementer of a few, forever.
Three giggling souls
bound.
Touching the sky
together with
none of us
in your way.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Town Stories ~ Roanoke, Where Oakey Lived
It's taken me a lot of years to
reconcile this town.
Town where my brother
died.
Town where my
grandfather prospered.
Town where my father led
school change
(for the better).
Town not kind to my
father after awhile
(power play).
Town where my teen years
were
tumblesome, sadsome, and
funagoodbit.
Like everyone's.
Where little girls of the '30s ran through Raleigh Court,
giggling, and
my cool aunt Nancy took me in her
convertible to a movie starring
Elvis Presley.
Town where I started
writing,
stopped writing to love,
will now write (late)
for the remainder of my days.
Photo, today, at
intersection of Colonial Avenue, Roanoke,
at Towers Mall.
Just beyond the stop sign, what used to be a
Just beyond the stop sign, what used to be a
quick summer's walk to
Oakey Stump's sprawling brick home.
My great-grandmother.
Rail widow and native of Floyd County,
Rail widow and native of Floyd County,
reveling in the city
where she could take the bus to get nice
lingerie and raise
children to work and go
to war.
Many stories & poems
to come of grandfathers, fathers, brother, and
Oakey.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Mahala knows
Grandmother of many greats.
Sarah Mahala your daughter, 1803.
Mountain settler.
The free kingdom lies
deep within Cahas, the One.
Totero knows.
Mahala knows.
Folds of old stone holding green shoots.
Lands we burned for corn,
Deer running past rabbits, the owl carrying us.
The old men ask me,
Why is woman strong? What does she say?
Totero knows.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Me & Buddy Guy
Husband & I enjoyed an evening with Buddy Guy at the fab Jefferson Center in Roanoke a few months back.
Glad our President got to meet him, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q8ZTMLoEWk
Glad our President got to meet him, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q8ZTMLoEWk
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Three blackberries
friend with three blackberry bushes,
twice a friend,
vines into the years.
juicy blue-black on our mugs
in summer.
twice a friend,
vines into the years.
juicy blue-black on our mugs
in summer.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
At Eidts Grove, once
http://twitter.com/ScribeMarjie
My three children, Michael, Mary Catherine and Andrew. We lost Andrew to an hereditary disease a few years after this sweet shot in Eidts Grove, Ontario. Many poems under way on this topic.
Loving Billy
http://twitter.com/ScribeMarjie
Loss will be part of my theme, and of my poems. My brother Billy, in happy days of youth. A fisherman and a gentleman, and lover of nature. In bottom photo, in the late 1970s, we were watching for hawks riding thermals in the Appalachian mountains.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
My brother Billy's birthday
Today, Billy would have been 51. He was 8 years younger than I, and much smarter, kinder and gentler. We lost him at age 20 in a terrible accident that altered all of our lives forever. Invited to attend Harvard, he chose Boston University for sophomore year. At the time of the accident, he was thinking of many fresh options for the direction of his life, which had already taken him on three trips to Europe. I miss him every day, and talk to him every night. He was a great young man, and beloved.
Monday, February 13, 2012
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