In a recent guest post, Lynda McKinney Lambert featured a poem about her grandmother’s ivory cream pitcher. This inspired me to revise and re-post a poem I wrote a couple of years ago about one of my grandmother’s rituals and how I still carry it out today. Click below to hear me read the poem and sing the John Denver song that inspired it.
***
RADIO IN THE MORNING
“It’s a good day,” the announcer sang.
“Now, stand by for news.”
At the age of twelve, lying next to Grandma
in her big double bed, I asked her
why we had to listen to news.
She said it was necessary to know
what was going on in the world.
After local and national events,
sports, horoscopes, we began our day.
In my own room at home, I had a radio,
woke up to all the happenings
around town, around the country, around the world.
As a teen-ager, I awoke to latest hits,
re-broadcasts of The Shadow,
The Lone Ranger, some comedy.
Now, with Granma gone,
I wake up to NPR news,
“find out what goes on in the world.
***
Now, it’s your turn. Think of one thing you remember about your grandmother and write about it in the comments field. What you share doesn’t have to be in poetic form. I look forward to reading about your memories.
***
Author Abbie Johnson Taylor
How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver
That’s Life: New and Selected Poems
My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds
Click to hear an audio trailer.
My Corner 
I don’t remember much about my grandmother but my mom listened to a country station all the time. She especially was interested in the weather forecast. She’d shoosh us when we kept on talking while it was on.
As for me, I tune in Environment Canada’s weather channel on my emergency radio in the bathroom. I like to know, as my mom did, what to expect from the sky this day. Sometimes I listen to shortwave radio while I’m on the porcelain throne. Some of the music I hear from China makes me chuckle. The drummer and violin player sound like they’re having too much fun. And some Spanish speakers sound like they’re paid by the word.
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Thank you, Bruce, for stopping by and sharing your memories. Enjoy the rest of your day.
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I also wish more folks would tune in distant stations. I often find that people worldwide have the same issues as we do. There are political scandals, murders, car crashes, and the like happening all over the world. And though we can hear stations on the Internet, it’s more fun to snag them out of the air with a radio. For example, I can listen to Radio New Zealand National on my PC but it’s an adventure to pick it up on shortwave without any help from ISPs and streaming audio. What a sublime feeling that is!
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