I just received word from Wilda Morris that one of my poems is a March winner in her monthly poetry challenge on her blog. Last month’s challenge was to write a lullaby poem so I wrote one for my niece Isabella who is ten years old. You can read it plus other winning poems here.
Isabella’s not the only niece for whom I wrote a poem. Anna isn’t technically my niece, but she’ll be my step-niece in July when her mother marries my brother. After visiting them in Florida last Christmas, I was inspired to write the following poem which will appear in my new chapbook, That’s Life: New and Selected Poems, to be published by Finishing Line Press.
THAT’S LIFE
For Anna
Oh you of thirteen years,
when told you can’t go to the mall
or sleep over with a friend,
please understand that’s the way life is.
If you grow up thinking
you’ll always have your way,
you’ll be sadly disappointed
so better put on your big girl pants—
deal with it.
Have you ever written a poem for a loved one?
Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author of We Shall Overcome and How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver
Great post Abbie! I actually think Ana will like the poem. She’s got a sort sadistic sense of humor 🙂
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Thanks, Andy, I hope she does, if not now, perhaps when she’s older.
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Congrats, Abbie! I wrote a series of limericks for a co-worker who had just been diagnosed with cancer once and wrote a poem for a former supervisor who was retiring. (A nice poem, mind you, she’s a wonderful woman.) I’ve written plenty of poems about my family, but I don’t recall every writing the poems FOR them.
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Thanks, Susan.
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Love this poem, Abbie. Reminds me I have written several poems about nieces and nephews. I might post one of them soon. Good idea.
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Thank you, Glenda.
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