Poetry

Jackie’s Passion for Poetry

Jackie’s interest in poetry began as a small child and was recognized by acclaim from the Poetry Society for her reading and comprehension skills while a student at the Roan High School for Girls in Blackheath. Although her own teachers persuaded her to train as a teacher of mathematics and science, Jackie pursued her passion for poetry at Homerton College in Cambridge by taking optional courses in English Literature as well as the compulsory English Language course. Among the treasured possessions she brought to the US when she emigrated in 1968 were a thick scrapbook, full of newspaper clippings and cyclostyled notes from her English Lit classes, mostly about poetry. One of the class notes was on the poem “Washing Day” by Roy Campbell, and was headed “Please return, unmarked, to Mrs. Morris”. Clearly Jackie did not always obey authority. Nevertheless, Helen Morris had a stronger influence on Jackie than any of the math and science lecturers.

Later in life, Jackie was able to complete her formal education by obtaining a degree in English. She began at the University of Pittsburgh, where she was inspired by Galway Kinnell, and then transferred to California State University at Hayward. The Poetry Foundation describes Galway Kinnell as “best known for poetry that connects the experiences of daily life to much larger poetic, spiritual, and cultural forces”. Jackie followed his example.

Jackie began writing her own poetry in Pittsburgh around 1983. She described the scope of her poems as “My life, my universe and a few bits and pieces”. In the introduction to a poetry reading in California, she wrote “A primary interest in my life is children, my own and teaching others”. Her children often provided the stimulus for her poems.

A thread through some of Jackie’s most powerful poems is a concern for the impact of war, on the participants as well as the victims. She could never forget what little she learned about her father’s experience in entering Bergen-Belsen and Dachau as an Air Force Intelligence Officer after World War II.

Having lived in five states within the US, as well as in England, and enjoyed memorable family vacations in coastal communities in several Mediterranean countries, her poems reflect a wide range of cultures and natural environments. Jackie’s imagination was spurred by variations in attitudes and behavior between different locations and between generations.

Over the last two decades, Jackie fought against the slow but steady onset of Parkinson’s Disease, and her ability to communicate disappeared almost entirely. Nevertheless, she was able to combine humour and deep insight in writing poems about the challenges she faced as the disease progressed.

Much of her pleasure of writing poetry came through working together in groups, such as the Ina Coolbrith Circle and the California Writer’s Club. Many of Jackie’s poems were honed through sharp criticism from her friends. But others grew simply from her insight into every-day events and speak clearly to non-poets.