Verse Love: Day 4: Where Are You From?

 This morning at Verse Love, Kim Johnson asks us to choose a person and setting (passenger on an airplane, etc.) and introduce yourself.  She asks us to offer a glimpse into our world. I knew I somehow wanted to "honor" my one of my favorite "living" poets Amanda Gorman who hails from LA and gained "fame" at Biden's inauguration. 

Here's the imaginary, wanna-be-real-setting. I found myself moved to business class last minute where I was assigned next to a younger woman, eyes already closed. Her hoodie was pulled low and her earbuds seemed to be closing out the world. I did not want to stare, but she sure looked like my heroine.  I read and reread that same page again and again as she slept and I wondered what I'd say if she woke up. I was staring at the clouds as we passed over Kansas when she stretched.....and we shared destinations.... before she asked, "Where are you from?"

I lived in McKeesport just long enough to get certificate of birth

Not long enough to appreciate the pollution of steel mills before

In my mother's arms, we pulled our trailer to Terre Haute, Indiana 

Then Ohio, which did not generate any family worthy stories before heading

To Spring Valley, NY where Hasidic families lived as they believed

Risking lives, walking in the dark on the Sabbath before,

Heading to Meridian, Mississippi and then to Selma, Alabama where

First hand inequities of our society became more real in segregated schools,

Stores, even churches shocked even my dad who I thought was worldly before

Heading to HS in upstate NYS where everyone skied and I bridged to college at

SUNY Albany as Vietnam War protests raged on the quad, before embarking

On my college journey to Syracuse, NY and then the University of Maryland

As Watergate exploded, before

Stops in Murrysville, PA and Troy, NY as early married life unfolded before

Landing in Stormville, NY, on top of a mountain that really is that stormy where

I raised my children and found out how strong I really was before

Settling in a two-train town in Northern, NJ not too far from my precious grands

30 minutes from Fordham University, The Met and Broadway.

"That story should be a poem!" she said and I'll always believed I talked too much but gave her fodder for a real poem about me!

Verse Love Day 3: Just One Pane di Pasqua

Today is Day 3 of Verse Love, our Host, Melissa asks us to consider art or an image as our inspiration. My mother-in-law wove Pane di Pasqua, with love, every Easter. It remains a symbol of new life and spring that makes me smile as I make just one, in her honor. 

They always sat in a pile on the table

As if they had popped out of the oven

Like the gingerbread man, rather than

Patiently kneaded, woven into perfect

Braids, holding their bright promises of life.

I smile as I walk past the best in town bakery, 

Think about ordering just one, while memories,

Of her centerpiece urge me to make just one,

Thinking about her as I knead, weave, and bake

Just one to sit on my table to remember her love, and

The promise of hope needed this spring.

                                 

Verse Love Day 2: People Working

Today is the second day of the Verse Love month.  Today's host, Leilya Pitre asks us to consider a poem that’s hiding in plain sight such as a road sign.   I have recently noticed an old fashioned sign has reappeared as road crews in my area work, tirelessly work to fix many pot-holes in many roads,

Perhaps, I thought in the beginning

This hard winter and temperature 

Fluctuating spring, caused

Abundant craters taking out 

BMW tires, created headaches in our

Litigious towns without enough of the 

Newer gender neutral inspired signs.

The norm for decades. 

Yet, clear as those bright patches of 

Blacktop, the old-fashioned signs,

You probably remember them, vaguely,

Men Working, are back even when the

Person directing the project and the 

Individual directing all cars safely are

Clearly Women Working.  

I want to believe one of those bake sales 

The focus of schools to get what they need 

Would help the shortage of 21st Century signs.

I am not so sure in a country without 

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion,

Verse Love 1: My Trail

Today is the first day of Verse Love where Sarah asks us to think about the landscapes (physical, emotional, or cultural) that shape us. We are asked to begin with inside me... This would have been much easier when I was younger and on top of the world.

Inside me is a jagged, rocky, complex trail,

Detours, wrong turns, switchbacks,

Cliffs, rock slides, hold your breath moments,

Brilliant rainbows follow devastating storms,

Meadows where God's majesty flows.

Climbs  where I stumble, fall, find footings, 

Brave new paths towards the unknown,

Learn about strength, persistence,

Hidden paths, self worth, hope,

Appreciate all the small moments,

The stronger, more confident, 

Heirs to my mountain.

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SOL26 March31 Endings are Beginnings

Today is the last day of the Slice of Life Challenge for March 2026.  It's also the ending-of-childhood-birthday for a special young woman in my life. Both endings are fortunately the beginning of a new chapters. 

How can she be ready to vote, go to college,

Make so many "adult" decisions when I 

Remember her damp head nestled, as we

Told endless bedtime stories after Elsa

Dance parties, slime making, trinket 

Paintings, celebrations, concerts, meets?

Yet, her next chapter is even more exciting

New adventures, experiences, people,

Endings are beginnings, 

I must remember.

How did I make it to the last day

Writing, reading, connecting, thinking,

Meeting new friends at the beginning of their

Journeys as teachers encouraging writing 

Along with those in the thick of teaching,

Parenting, trying to empower themselves

Along with forever teachers

Still learning, reflecting, growing?

Yet, we can meet again next Tuesday

I will try to write poetry, daily, in April

Endings are beginnings, 

I must remember.

SOL26 March 30 Have You Ever?

 

This month, I am writing with the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life group sharing bits and pieces of life. I am all over the place in my thinking, worrying, and celebrating right now and in the beginning I was thinking it was just me!  I kept adding to my list, but these are a few of the feelings that many/most/all? of us have at times!

Have you ever thought about how much a newborn baby grows and changes in their first 18 years? How could it happen so fast that they are ready to head off to jobs and colleges and lives of their own?

Have you ever looked at a child and become overcome with worries about the condition of the world our generation is handing to them? How can we who worked for and wanted peace and harmony live with our failure to make the world better?

Have you ever wanted something so much it hurt but know you cannot have it? How did you manage to move on and cope with life without constant obsession? Is it ok to let go of hopes and dreams?

Have you ever been so lost that you were really scared, if only for a moment, and not sure of what was going to happen? How did you find the courage to keep going, find your way in the myriad of choices?

Have you ever been so angry and frustrated with someone that you could imagine yelling, screaming, and knocking over furniture and held it inside? How could someone make you so angry, sad, disappointed? How could such a thing happen?

Have you ever loved someone so much that you worried obsessively and prayed consciously day after day? How can you keep all those loves and worries in balance with working, living and breathing? 

Have you ever lost someone who left a hole in your heart the size of the Grand Canyon? How do you move ahead and keep going with a gaping hole in your life? 

Have you ever won a lottery where the big money prize provided the impetus for changing the future of your life? I once won a 50-50 drawing at a small town orchestra but that's it! and that is ok!

SOL26: March 29 While Marines Landed

This month, I am writing with Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life group sharing bits and pieces of life, like this one, 

I met Diane, Claudia, Alba,

Waiting for the march to begin,

In a small train-stop-town

While Marines landed in the Middle East,

New casualties, the war expanded while

Bitter winds blew, encouraging us to go home.

Yet, we joined long retired, new graduates, 

Families, veterans, guide dogs, wheelchairs,

Worried about wars, bullying, unemployment, 

Panicked about inflation, international relations,

Saddened about those incarcerated, senseless murders

Hoping in some very small way to make a difference.

I remembered the "olden days" of watching the big kids

Long air flowing blowing in the wind, literally,

As they sat in protest at on the quad

As we marched slowly back onto the yellow bus

This was a far more diverse crowd!

 

SOL26March 28 Public Service Reminder

 

This month, I am writing with the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Group sharing bits and pieces of my life. It is an amazing challenge that forces me to think like a writer at least for a few weeks a year. 

"You have 30 miles left," Jenna dinged as I went past the last strip mall and then the last gas station on Route 23. It was raining cats and dogs, at that moment, and there was no urgent need for gas, yet. I made a mental note to get gas closer to home as I sang along with Carly and inched onto the interstate.

The traffic was slowing and I assumed, wrongly, one of the many pot-hole -repair-crews that were trying to break the cycle of blow-out times was at work just over the hill. Slowly we inched over the hill burning more precious petrol than any of us wanted to do in order to go a mile.  There was no reason for the jam in sight when the traffic churned to a total stop as the angry rain increased its attack. 

I joined Bruce, for a minute, but seriously he was happier than I was at that moment, so I turned my focus o my good friend in need, Google Map-Man. At first, it didn't look too bad, so I just sat watching the rain and wipers noticing their rhythm and then noticing Jenna had alerted me to 20 miles remaining. 

Over the next hour, yes hour, I alternated turning on and off the car, checking Google Map-Man for updates, and watching emergency vehicles snake through the angry crowd. I began to wonder if I would get home in time for my appointment? I started to think of all the contingency plans I could think about. 

The rain slowly ebbed, sunshine came out as Jenna mocked me showing just 10 miles left. Then we began moving in a positive direction. I got off at the next exit and scolded myself as if I was a naughty new driver.  "You do know better!"

Consider this a public service reminder

SOL26: March 27 Grateful

II'm writing every day in March as part of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life group. This slice is thanks to Ana who lead our Thursday night writing group this week. Ana suggested we all write about the hour before we zoomed into the meeting. I did!

She pulled down her cap and started swimming while I hopped over to the room where that fake running machine, otherwise known as elliptical, sits waiting to torture. I did the requisite minutes as fast as I could. I was on a mission, and the sweat dripping from my brown was evidence of my intent to get as much into the next hour as I could.

I quickly headed to the circuit where those foreboding machines were mocking me to come visit even though there were others with toned bodies and perfectly defined abs mulling around as if they had nothing else to do. I did the arm pull down machine, but my heart was already reading slices.

Fortunately, I had thrown my Chromebook into my gym bag, thinking maybe I might catch part of my writing group. I followed my heart and headed to the table near the pool.

I glanced over, She looked small compared to the others as she swam back and forth, almost effortlessly. She was clearly the younger sister in this cohort and I was feeling apprehensive for her; but, she was strangely confident practicing without her usual teammates as she prepared for the biggie Regional Meet.

For a moment, I lost my focus and returned to that morning, not that long ago, when her mom insisted I join the smiling toddler as she learned to jump off the side of the pool. If I am honest, I think she was confident even then. What I really remember is that I was a petrified new Meme, not sure of anything, learning to swim on my own in a new life that I could not even imagine. I did have one of those really cool Slice of Life moments thinking, "It is a good thing confidence is not genetic."

Then, filled with hope, I logged onto zoom where my friends were already gathering, grateful for this community where I too take risks, do hard things, and practice writing every day in March.

SOL26: March 26 Black Suburbans

I am writing with the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life group this month.  I have tried to find joy in every day life. This post is different, feel free to not read. Yet, some days there is more sadness than joy, like yesterday in the immigrant heavy community where I live. I did see the Suburbans and that got me going. I debated not sharing, but this is real, even though I am not sure about the Starbucks part........

Four black Suburbans sat waiting

Stealthily, at dismissal

While four engines were running 

In spite of the price of gas

While eight agents were sipping mocha lattes

Munching fresh croissants, bagels,

While ear buds were tuned to Opening Day, 

They'll catch the game, then

Nab a mom, babysitter, lunch aide.....

While TSA agents drive by in Ubers 

To put food on the table

While the lines grow at airports

Ticket prices increase by the hour,

While hikers are sent away from

Yosemite, Grand Canyon

While delis shutter their doors

As customers pray for another extension

While in Sacramento, gas nears $7

As bombs drop into the sea.

While we are distracted by Cuba, China

Greenland, Venezuela, Iran, China, Dubai,

While tariffs are tossed around like 

Lysol after the flu hits home

While carrots, peanut butter, hamburgers

Become treats saved for birthdays

While our hearts are heavy and our

Minds are distracted by daily legal battles..

We have not forgotten 

Thousands of unnamed souls warehoused in abandoned buildings, 

Flown to foreign lands where they have disappeared 

To live their days in punishment,

Reassigned to a country where they have never lived before 

Away from children, spouses, jobs, courses, loves,

Forced to give up dreams of making the world a better place

Altering their future,

Those around the world w

Who hate us more than ever before

Those lost including Virginia, Renee, Jose, Tyler, Alex, Luis,  

Geraldo, Victor, Heber, Noah, Cody, Nicole,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,