Category: Poetry

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New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

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Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.

After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?

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Poetry Through The Years: My Review of The Poets Laureate Anthology Edited by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt #FantasticFridayReads #Poetry #Inspiration

What Amazon Says

The first anthology to gather poems by the forty-three poets laureate of the United States.

Buy from Amazon.

My 4-Star Review

A fellow author in my Behind Our Eyes group recommended this book, and I’m glad I picked it up. Produced by the Library of Congress, it includes work by poets laureate who served in this position from 1937 to 2010 when it was published. Each author has a section in the book containing a biography and a description of the poet’s work followed by several poems. The foreword and introduction by former poet laureate Billy Collins and editor Elizabeth Hun Schmidt offer a glimpse of what it’s like to be a poet laureate.

Although I skipped over many of the poets featured here because their subject matter was too deep, or their abstract style left my mind wandering, I enjoyed reading and rereading poems by favorites including Billy Collins, Ted Kooser, and Robert Frost and found a few new poets I hadn’t heard of before.

Having a sweet tooth, one of my favorites was “Maple Syrup” by Donald Hall, in which he talks about how his grandfather made that concoction I use to top pancakes and oatmeal. I also enjoyed “Introduction to a Poem” by Billy Collins, in which he makes a good point about how we tend to over-think the meaning of a poem.

One thing all these poets laureate have in common is that in their own styles, they share slices of their lives and lives of others. You can read this book from cover to cover, as I did, or pick poets and poems at random. No matter how this collection is read, I hope it will be enjoyed through the years.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

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New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

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Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***

P Is for Prom #TuesdayTidbit #Life’s Alphabet #Poetry

My senior prom was memorable and unusual, as evidenced by the following poem. You can click on the title to hear me read it.

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Yellow Prom Memories

A long yellow skirt and yellow blouse with three-quarter-inch sleeves

I wore to my senior prom in 1980.

Dad reluctantly agreed to be my date,

as no boy asked me, and I had no courage to ask a boy.

I don’t remember the color of Dad’s suit

or the corsage and boutonniere Mother ordered.

I do recall Dad and me dancing,

me taking off my garter,

placing it on Dad’s arm,

him immediately removing it, embarrassed,

the picture taken of the two of us

that Grandma displayed in her music room for years.

Dad and Grandma are gone.

Who knows what happened to the yellow skirt and blouse,

the flowers, the garter, the photo,

but the memories remain.

***

What do you remember about your senior prom? Please share in the comment field below.

Thanks to beetleypete for inspiring my Life’s Alphabet series with a similar one of his that he posted on his blog last December. Every day, he wrote about a different aspect of his life, using words starting with consecutive letters of the alphabet. Mine is a weekly series, and this week’s letter is P. Thank you for reading.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

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New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***

Elegy for an Oak Tree #WednesdayWords #Poetry #Inspiration

Elegy for An Oak Tree

It once stood in my back yard,

tall, majestic, graced by a treehouse.

This was the first to go,

since it was causing structural damage to the tree.

Then, the tree needed to be taken down

because it was leaning toward the house.

Now, there’s only an empty space

filled with sun and dirt.

But I still have memories

of sitting with the one I loved

in its shade on the patio.

***

The above poem was published in the May 7th issue of The Weekly Avocet, which can be downloaded here. I was inspired to write this poem years ago while doing an audio workout. The instructor said to stand like a tree, and I thought of the oak tree in my back yard. I wrote the poem while the tree was still there but revised it after the tree was taken down. It could use one more revision, since grass has since replaced the dirt. You can click the link below to hear me read it.

Elegy for an Oak Tree

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

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New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***

The Black Hole #TuesdayTidbit #Poetry #Inspiration

In 2000, my father suffered a stroke that only affected his speech. His voice was clear, but at first, he struggled to find words he wanted to use, and we struggled to figure out what he wanted to tell us. His speech improved over time but was never fully recovered. This was frustrating to him because he loved to act.

I wrote the following poem during the first year after Dad’s stroke. He passed in 2013. I’ve since revised it to reflect that. It was recently published in an anthology called Poetry Treasures 3: Passions. To hear me read the poem, click on the title. You can click here to read my review of this collection and find a link to where it can be purchased. I’m sharing this in loving memory of my father on his birthday. Happy birthday, Dad. Rest in peace.

The Black Hole

by Abbie Johnson Taylor

A Shakespearean actor with an evocative voice,

Dad needed to speak,

but words wouldn’t come.

For years, he struggled, stammering, swearing,

to wrestle beloved language from his stroke’s black hole,

often succeeding until the end

when no more words emerged.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

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New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***