PARADOXBy Vera Wardner Dougan Holidays are portrayed as times of rejoicing but as we all come to knowthey are often fraught with grief. It seems appropriate to share this poemat this season. It was written by my mother in 1925; I have it in a booklet, Mirrors, that she put together for my father, family […]
Jacqueline Jackie Jackson
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winterpoem # 4
winterpoem # 4 on bitter nights when deep drifts blocked our long country lane we hiked up left the car on the road snowpants boots our white breath searing our windpipes we followed daddy’s tracks as he pushed the way to light and warmth I loved those treksthe sky its richest black and the stars!the […]
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family poem # 22
at ten I went with my grandparentsto visit my iowa cousins polly inninth grade took me to her latin classI deciphered the first few exercisesa farmer called agricola later I saidto an older cousin latin makes you thinkshe said “uncle wess asked me oncedid I know what was an educated manwhen I shook my head […]
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thanksgiving poem #7
thanksgiving poem #7 this is your last day faithful underpants your gaping holes can no longer be ignored your elasticis too flabby it’s the ragbag tonight so I willsay to you whatfolks say to mehave a good day although whenthey say it to me I don’t know as you now know whether to especiallyappreciate this […]
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poetrywall poem # 1
poetrywall poem # 1 My granddaughter, Cressida, wrote this poem on the Poetry Wall of our summer cabin when she was 10. She added a drawing of a cat calmly walking away, a dead bird on the ground behind it. the sleek cat stalks its prey silent feet creep up closer closer closer to its […]
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flu shot poem #1
flu shot poem #1 this is flu shot season my friend annette writes she can’t take one on account of raw egg allergy she adds, “I’ll always remember my grandmother’s recollections of the 1918 Spanish flu. So many people died in Chicago that her parish priest couldn’t keep up with the funeral masses. Instead he […]
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retiree’s lament poem #1
the State has stole our pensionsthe State has stole our pensionsthe State has stole our pensionssing loo-di-doo-di-doo that big ole bag of moneywe gave our savings tothe State just took and stole itsing loo-di-doo-di-doo there must have been some Interest’twas a humongous sumthe State could have that gladlyif they’d just left us some!sing loo-di-doo-di-doo-di-doosing loo-di-doo-di-doo
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vermontpoem #41
vermontpoem #41 this morning the lake is still no ripples mar the surface not even my own as I swim no little swallows (black tops white bellies) dip and wheel to catch their insect breakfast their name I think is “least swallow” usually there’s a dozen no rower in a swift skull near the far […]
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ebola poem #1
the thin child perhaps nineleaning against the slim treeweeping her mother just deadthe mother who helped acollapsed pregnant friend intoa taxi to get her to a hospitalthe trip was in vain the womandied so did all the others whohelped the woman now no onewill go near this crying childno one will touch her for shehad […]
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springfield 66 poem #1
springfield 66 poem #1 busy time this fri eve in springfield route 66 gala already begun hard to get to the old pharmacy to see tom handy’s photos of palms and their latticed shadows jim hawker’s unforgettable bored child embracing a curb it was like those mazes in a kid’s puzzle book you start out […]
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dairystate poem #2
our area of wisconsin has lovelylively names afton avalon tiffanycarvers rock beckmans mill dariendelavan elkhorn hog hollow I wentwith my grandfather to a townshipmeeting of some sort in emerald grovethe little white church where they allmet was spare in decoration but hadmany tall clear windows it was as fullof sunset light as san chapelle a […]
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grampa poem #3
grampa poem #3 in a letter to his second son my grampa writes, “If I try to tell you what you like and what you dislike I may play the role of the shoemaker who was fitting a pair of shoes to a customer. The customer said, ‘These shoes pinch.’ The cobbler replied, ‘What do […]
