Poetry

I actually did not know that last Wednesday, April 25th was national Poetry Day! I love poetry and I love to write poetry so I was disappointed that this day got past me without my knowledge. However, as fate would have it, I had a small Brunch that morning for some friends, one of whom is blind, and I thought it would be fun to read some poetry aloud, which we did. And one of the poems I chose was the poem, "Keep a Poem in your Pocket" by Beatrice Schenk de Regiers which seemed to be the theme for the day. The poem says:

"Keep a poem in your pocket
and a picture in your head
and you'll never feel lonely
at night when you're in bed
********************
The little poem will sing to you
the little picture bring to you
a dozen dreams to dance to you
at night when you're in bed.
***********************
So-----
Keep a poem in your pocket
and a poem in your head
and you'll never feel lonely
at night when you're in bed.

I actually have three favorite poems. One is "Daffodils" (William Wordsworth) which, at one time, I could recite by heart. Another favorite, with a similar theme, is " The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (William Butler Yeats) and when I was in Ireland with my mother, sister and niece...we saw this isle from a distant shore, and my sister, Maureen, recited the entire poem from memory. It must speak to our Irish souls.Both these poems paint a space of wonder and tranquility to behold at the moment but, equally important, to take the image with you to bring joy when you are in places that are not as lovely as these.  A third poem that I love is "Ulysses" (Alfred, Lord Tennyson) especially the last 26 lines that begin, "There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail..... In this poem, Ulysses is saying that, though his life is coming to an end, he has at least one more good sail in him, and he is going to continue on in life doing what he has always loved to do; that age will not deter from living his life to the fullest until he is gone. I like this sentiment. I too wish to live life to the fullest until I can no more, and enjoy doing the things I love to do; one of which is writing poetry. So I will add one of my most recent poems that is neither thoughty (as my Dad would say) nor profound...perhaps just one we can all relate to, and one that was fun to write.

THE CLUTTERED TABLE BY THE DOOR

Oh cluttered table by the door
Keeper of family treasures
And things that suddenly appear
Placed here upon your table top
Car keys
Overdue books
Letters to be sent
Bills to be paid
What else has been laid
Upon your table top?
 What other trinkets
Besides the dust gathering here?
Invitations
Salutations
A letter from a friend (rare)
Rubber bands
Ball point pens
Assorted change
Ah, such a range
Of meaningless clutter
Oh brother!
Just so much stuff
To put away
To get ready for another day....
When other things
Find their way to your table top.

Another Birthday

Today I thought I would talk about birthdays having just celebrated mine over the Easter weekend; actually, Good Friday to be exact. Throughout my life, I have also had my birthday fall on Easter, so I have had to celebrate my day with "the good news" and the Easter Bunny. These days I am fortunate to share it with my eight year old granddaughter, Sara, who now has a birthday one day before mine, so  we celebrate our special day together. As I was thinking about birthdays, I went back in my memory to think about some of those special birthdays that were memorable for me. The first one I remember is my own eighth year birthday, only because I have a picture of all the kids who came, standing in front of our first house in Cincinnati, Ohio. We look like quite a motley group, and I also notice that I invited my childhood arch enemy, standing next to my best friend. Mother insisted on doing that back then to keep the peace which was quite smart of her, actually. The second memorable birthday was when I turned 16 and I could drive. Little did I know that the bloom would soon be off the rose as I then became the chauffeur for all of my younger 4 sisters, and the errand person for my mother. We had an eight passenger station wagon, and I became every one's ride to school, and  the means of travel for my friends who did not yet have "wheels." It was somewhat like having a summer cottage...friends came out of the woodwork! The next year was memorable in that I did not get what I asked for; instead getting a set of golf clubs with lessons at our club which I had little interest in at the time. I even skipped the Saturday morning lessons, instead, picked up my best friend and went out to breakfast. Dad always wondered why I was not a better player after those "lessons." Today, I am so grateful for those golf clubs as I have enjoyed the game  tremendously with my husband and friends all my adult life. Skipping forward some years until my 50th when we had a big shindig with friends and family, and our neighbors put up, in our yard, one of those gigantic commercial signs that read, "We think it is nifty that Gretta is turning 50!" Funny and fun! At 60, I was vacationing in California and, by mail, my daughter sent me a special book where she had compiled e-mails, testimonials and special greetings from all of my family and friends etc. I sat there at the restaurant reading, laughing and crying! What a treasure this book is! Sixty-five was elegantly celebrated  at a beautiful restaurant here with  family and friends in attendance, and then for birthday 70, I returned to Cincinnati where my Summit classmates and I celebrated our birthdays together at the beautiful home of one of our classmates, Florance Connelly Koetters who provided an elegant celebration for all of us. Through all the years I have had, to honor my life, I have tried to remember all those people who came before me, to help make my life what it is today. I love what Warren Buffett refers to as "the ovarian lottery," in which he says that he won the lottery the day that he was born. I also won the lottery!