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Here is the list of poems from our poetry night in December 2024. I have included a link to the poem where available. For those without a link, the whole text of the poem is included at the bottom of the e-mail. This includes two poems by book club members, Betsy White and Isabelle Hodge, and one by my mother, Jacqueline Bardsley.
It was lovely to have Betsy and Isabelle share their own work. In addition, Pat Wright once again treated us to her storytelling talents with an eerie and moving personal tale. All in all, it was a lovely night.
Poetically yours,
Karen
2024 Poetry night poems:
“Gratitude” by Patrick Dundon, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/1625034/gratitude
“Instructions” by Sheri Hostetler, https://www.tennesonwoolf.com/instructions-a-poem-by-sheri-hostetler/
“Sandhill Cranes” by Elizabeth White (see below)
“Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann, https://allpoetry.com/desiderata---words-for-life
William Carlos Williams, “Tribute to the Painters,” https://verseando.com/blog/william-carlos-williams-tribute-to-the-painters/
William Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud
Jacqueline Lockhart Bardsley, “Bedtime” (see below)
Christopher Smart, “My Cat Jeoffry (from Jubilate Agno),” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45173/jubilate-agno
Sylvia Plath, “Blackberrying” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49004/blackberrying
Carson McCullers, an excerpt from “The Ballad of the Sad Café,” https://thestainofpoetry.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/the-ballad-of-the-sad-cafe/
Isabelle Hodge, “My Grandmother’s 96th Birthday” (see below).
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “Pity the Nation,” https://richardlfloyd.com/2020/11/22/pity-the-nation-a-poem-for-our-time-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/
Brenda Hillman, “The Covenant,” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/1602051/the-covenant
Sandhill Cranes
“Every pair of Sandhill cranes has a distinctive cry to communicate with their young”
At dusk, we gather at the swamp, the air and water still
To the west, the sun sets over the hill.
The mountains east blush with alpenglow
We shiver as the shadows grow
Nothing is happening, shall we go?
Silence is broken by a hundred bird cries
Our ears cannot tell one from another
But each chick hears its father and mother
Three hundred pairs of wings darken the sky
As one hundred sandhill crane families fly
Their six foot wide wings fold as they land
Three by three in the water they stand,
Safe from night predators on the land
By day they glean barley fields, filling belly and mouth
With fuel for their journey south .
--Betsy White '60
Bedtime
I don’t want to go to bed
Lots of plans are in my head:
I’ll go outside and climb a tree,
Lie on the floor and watch TV,
Score high on my computer game.
Pretend that I don’t hear my name
When Mom calls me, I’ll run and hide,
Sneak out and get my bike and ride
To my friend’s house. But do you know,
I’m kind of sleepy. I won’t go.
Mom’s brought me cookies, milk to drink.
When I’ve had those, then I think
I’ll get in bed so Mom can come
And read to me. Then she will hum
My favorite song, and I’ll start yawning
And, in a wink, it will be morning.
-- Jacqueline Bardsley
My Grandmother’s 96 Birthday
Most people are afraid of death
But I’ve never been more afraid of living
Than at my grandmother’s 96th birthday party
In a pale cream room
With flowers fit for a funeral lining the walls
The geriatric to geri-almost
Eat frosted cake on paper plates
And in paper bowls
Ice cream is always a favorite
Soft on the gums, easy to eat
The last meal my grandfather ate
Before he passed 10 years ago
There is no music, she can’t hear it
No dancing, who could manage it
We speak with our chests
Voices low and loud
In the hope she might catch enough words to know what we are saying
They make her blow out the candles twice
We arrived late and missed it the first time
It takes her a few tries
With her soft breath and strong cough
But all 3 candles go out eventually
My aunt attempts to find a spoon
In the cardboard box of plastic silverware
We bought for this enigmatic event
The plastic cutlery squeaks and screams
Fighting friction
Unhappy that their single use
Single life
Will be wasted here
The Walmart Happy Birthday banner
With its silver tinsel streamers
Reflect their pain
After the event we cart her back to her room
She holds a vase of pink and red roses on her lap
Like a young woman returning from a promising date
The family frets about her room
Arranging furniture as if its placement
Makes all the difference in the world
She sits in her chair
Providing the comforting presence
Of a child’s favorite toy
Or safety blanket
Before their parents deem them too old to keep it
On my last visit before leaving
I sit on the arm of her chair
Leaning back gently, Holding her hand
Thumb on rice paper skin
My dad asks her what she thinks about all day
Oh nothing, she says
It doesn’t much matter to me anymore
Her voice breathes more than she does
I’ll let everyone else do the thinking
I’d rather be dead
When it is time to go I reach over for a hug
Well, See you next time,
She says, hand searching for my face
While I lean in for her kiss
See you next time, Whenever that may be
See you next time, Grandma
Whenever that may be.
--Isabelle Hodge '20
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