Friday, July 22, 2016

remember the raspberries

wall.alphacoders.com

"I want my word to be the thing itself,
 created by my soul a second time."
                    --Juan Ramon Jimenez

"A poem should not mean, but be."
                   --Archibald MacLeish



This week I presented at the Millersville University Poetry in the Classroom Institute, directed by Dr. Lesley Colabucci.  Along with Jacqueline Jules, Marjorie Maddox, Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, I "worked" poetry with a great group of Pennsylvania educators.  There was talk of the many ways to read poetry, write poetry, share poetry, collect poetry, teach poetry, learn poetry, and my particular contribution was a look at the nuts & bolts of establishing a workable poetry routine in the classroom. Meanwhile, I created my own writer's retreat here in Lancaster, PA, and excavated a whole crate of writing from as far back as 1992--not notebooks, but drafts of stories and memoir and poems and manuscripts, some with my notes, some with critique group notes--tons of material remembered and yes (I have a really faulty memory), forgotten.

This has given me the impression of eating, sleeping and breathing poetry all week, and yet for me there has hardly been a moment of letting a poem "be the thing itself," of letting it "not mean, but be."  These words are the epigraph to a double collection of poems by my youngest cousin Meredith, which I rediscovered in my trove of writing.  So to conclude my week, I'm going to let these two poems by Meredith be the thing itself, created a second time out of her college experience of brain cancer and long recovery

from Roots: Living With(Out) Cancer
    
grass || Meredith Tracy
       Part I: Another Voice in the Darkness, 1999

Dad wheels me along
the paved pathways, careful not
to tip me sideways
I remember how the familiar feel of
each individual blade
on my bare feet
stunned me as I stood up
out of my wheelchair.

Taking in the fresh air,
an unexpected treasure--
raspberry bushes:
ruby fruit
that melts on my tongue.

A respite from hospital air,
nutrients/food.  A reminder of life.

I am alive.

remember the raspberries|| Meredith Tracy
     Part II: Remember the Raspberries, 2009
 
i need to remember that
unexpected pleasure of
the rubyfruit melting on
my tongue.

that moment when I was
outside, no longer a
patient, but an outsider
seeing the unexpectedness
of life, the surprises that
appear so suddenly, th
pieces of a light-full life
to be lived, even if only
day by day.

i need to forget the
dark half of the room
i shared with a stranger.
the dark half that seems
to follow me, not
letting me go
until i can shed this
darkness and walk out
into the light.

****************************

The roundup today is with  Chelanne at Books4Learning.  Let the poems be.


18 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing the moving raspberry poems, Heidi! I love the idea of excavating old writing--I have at least one crateful, too! Have fun with that treasure trove!

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  2. These are lovely, and I love the image of you living poetry lately. My memory is faulty too -- thank goodness for computer files and notebook pages and drawers and boxes. xo

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  3. These are wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

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  4. My writing group just talked of gathering all the writing, and HOW this week. I wonder at the scene in your house, and how you stopped for these poems of your cousin's. I helped a family member once after a long stay & she spoke of the fresh air she had missed. The raspberries speak to this so powerfully. Thanks, Heidi.

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  5. "seeing the unexpectedness" What a great line. These poems really make you remember the unexpected moments of your life. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks for the positive response!!!!

      Meredith

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  6. Happy summer, Heidi. Thanks for a good post.

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  7. What a pair -- each so powerful, but so much MORE powerful together. Wishing Meredith decades and decades of health.

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  8. Meredith has done such a great job of capturing ordinary moments and making them extraordinary. (How much I miss because I don't appreciate it, or pay attention as I would if it were threatened.)

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    1. Thank you for the positive response as well.


      Meredith

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  9. Thank you for sharing. Meredith's two poems put together are extraordinary. I've been dusting off some old pages myself, and finding some surprises.

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  10. I want to thank you Alice for your positive response as well!

    Meredith

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  11. Those are wonderful. I am fond of raspberries, digging though old boxes and resurrecting lovely poems.

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  12. Thanks, Heidi and Meredith!

    ...the familiar feel of
    each individual blade
    on my bare feet


    I felt it, too!

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  13. "remember the raspberries" is a great rallying cry! Thanks for sharing these.

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  14. What would I find if I went back to look? I've traveled a lot this summer but I haven't done any workshop teaching which feels odd to me. I usually teach a writing camp. That time to be completely focused on poetry sounds marvelous and rewarding. Thanks for sharing these lovely poems.

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  15. Raspberries...reminding me to remember, deliciously. Thank you Meredith and Heidi! =)

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Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!