Holiday Hardship

Thanksgiving is almost here. In past years, I’ve lost my mother, two grandmothers, my husband, and my father. Although I try to keep a joyful attitude during this time, the following poem from That’s Life illustrates how difficult the holidays can be for those who have lost loved ones.

HOLIDAY HARDSHIP

Thanksgiving is coming.

Already, a friend far away

asks if I have plans.

I’ll spend Christmas

in the tropics with my brother,

but Thanksgiving’s up in the air

with no husband, father, mother.

Other relatives have plans.

 

At least I don’t have to clean the house,

shop, prepare food for twelve people,

pick up after everyone,

deal with leftovers

while men watch football,

women fail to be helpful,

children run around,

scream, argue, cry.

It’s not the same.

If you’ve lost loved ones, how do you celebrate the holidays?

Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author of We Shall Overcome, How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver, and That’s Life: New and Selected Poems

Order That’s Life from Finishing Line Press.

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Will You Come?

Have you ever wished a loved one passed away would come when you called? I often wish Bill were still with me, and I guess I always will. The following poem from the fall/winter issue of Magnets and Ladders illustrates this. You can read the magazine at http://www.magnetsandladders.org .

WILL YOU COME?

For Bill

 

If I call, will you come

from the depths of the hereafter

sit with me, hold my hand,

caress, kiss me, say you love me?

 

I know you’re in a better place,

but I need your soothing touch,

reassuring voice, companionship.

If I call, will you come?

To hear me sing one of Bill’s favorite songs that expresses my longing, go to https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15213189/stormy%20weather.mp3 .

By the way, if you’re within the sound of my voice, I’ll be signing copies of my new poetry collection, That’s Life, on Saturday, November 22^nd at Sheridan Stationery Books & Gallery here in Wyoming. I’ll be there from 10 a.m. till noon. The book can be ordered by clicking one of the links below, or you can buy a copy at the time of the signing. If you’re downtown getting an early start on your holiday shopping, please stop by and say hello.

Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author of We Shall Overcome, How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver, and That’s Life: New and Selected Poems

Order That’s Life from Finishing Line Press.

Order That’s Life from Amazon.

A Yellow Wedding

Last summer, I attended my brother’s wedding in Florida. It was a beautiful ceremony on the front porch of a bed and breakfast in West Palm Beach. The reception afterward was held behind the establishment in what they called a backyard bar. With plenty of food and drink and dancing to music by my brother’s old college band, despite the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes, it was a lot of fun. This inspired the following poem that appears in the fall/winter issue of Magnets and Ladders. You can read it at http://www.magnetsandladders.org .

YELLOW WEDDING

Swathed in yellow, she glides to the altar,

attended by bridesmaids, also in yellow,

carrying bouquets of yellow flowers.

 

A blackbird sadly calls

as if knowing this is the second time around,

wondering if this time, their love will last forever.

 

Is there a particular wedding that stands out in your mind?

 

Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author of We Shall Overcome, How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver, and That’s Life: New and Selected Poems

Order That’s Life from Finishing Line Press

Order That’s Life from Amazon.

My Favorite TV Doc

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a paramedic after watching episodes of Emergency on television. I fantasized about marrying one of the firefighters and working together as a team, him putting out fires and me tending to the wounded and riding with them in the ambulance to the hospital. Fortunately for those who might have been entrusted to my care, I realized later that the health care profession was not a viable option for someone with a visual impairment.

When I was in college, I became a fan of MASH, a TV sitcom about doctors at a mobile army surgical hospital in Korea during the war. My favorite character was Hawkeye, one of the doctors played by Allen Alda. He could take a bad situation like war and make it funny, even though it wasn’t. He inspired the following poem which appears in the fall/winter edition of Magnets and Ladders. You can read the full issue at http://www.magnetsandladdeers.org .

HAWKEYE

Named after the character

in The Last of the Mohicans,

he’s the doc I’d want to have

if I were wounded in Korea.

 

Like any single man,

he flirts with nurses, USO stars,

Even a doctor and a journalist,

But he knows better

Than to use them.

 

At the end of the day,

With his great sense of humor,

terrific bedside manner,

he makes war funny,

even though it’s not.

 

Did you or do you have a favorite television character?

Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author of We Shall Overcome, How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver, and That’s Life: New and Selected Poems

Order That’s Life from Finishing Line Press.

Order That’s Life from Amazon.