LONG SUMMARY

My book titles LEGENDS AND LANDMARKS is a collection of original poetry about hills and valleys of my life. Like Pollack painted with his own brush, I write with my own mind. I preserve memories by writing my feelings at their most intense moments. This collection is a mirror in which I see what has made me who I am. I choose to write in the proprioceptive method; literally writing whatever my mind is telling me at any particular moment. If awakened groggy with sleep, I take pen in hand and write. Not thinking, I hear my mind speak. Whatever thoughts go through the muddled mind, come out in words that may make sense only to the writer or one who has felt the same tremors. They surprise me with their message, and I learn one more thing about myself. My mind tells me how different and unique I am, and I find my destination where beauty lives.

My book, spanning sixty years of poetic expression in which I keep the past alive, covers a lifetime of living. Many of my poems relate to my Mother, who died at a young age but left me many memories. MASQUERADE was my first venture into my feelings about my Mother. THE DOVE followed, remembering her love of the song, and playing it on the piano. Leaving me with a sadness of loss, I learned much about her. When I wrote WISHING, I could feel her presence. I realized that I feel great loss for friends, some who were schoolmates. I expressed this in REUNION. It was difficult to write, as sadness overwhelmed me.

I was happy to write a birthday poem to a very dear friend who had been a role model for me. I titled it MARY'S BIRTHDAY. The pleasure it brought her was a joy to see. She framed the poem, and it remains a favorite of hers. I wrote WINTER DAY, in appreciation for the beautiful morning-into-night. As I did not appreciate the beauty of winter as I had in Florida, which is where I was when I wrote WINTER DAY.

There are many poems about my love of the sea and the sun. MY FRIEND THE SUN is a description of what the sun does for me. SUNRISE is a favorite poem of mine, as is MY SONG. Both were written while enjoying a vacation at the beach, one of my favorite places to be. I AM AT HOME is an account of how I felt while enjoying the surf, playing. In writing PROPHESY, I use the action of the tides to describe how I feel about life in general.

There are a few philosophical poems about life as I felt at times, and GRATITUDE was evident for many conditions, including unrequited love. My love of flowers, birds, and butterflies is shown in several ways. FLOWERS ON THE WALL is a whimsical description of the uses of my garden, as is MAYFLOWER, a tribute to my aloe cactus. SUBTERFUGE is a saturnine dream. I woke to see that I had written a message so unlike me, it would take some untangling to find just what it was all about. I have come to the conclusion it was to show me just how upside-down I can be, unpredictable and how both loved and hated I am, but it's alright, it's my world.

My love for my husband is shown by my words in WHEN YOU ARE AWAY. I wrote it while waiting for his return from work out of town. Again, much later, when he became ill and died, I was in such agony that I could not retire to bed for sleep without writing my love for him, and my awareness of his strength even in death. It took me two years to be able to write CLOSURE. I had to let him go, and go on with my life. I am glad I had written YOUR LOVE, earlier in our lives.

Having been a widow for three years, I learned I could love once again. A FRACTURED WORLD was the beginning of a new start in life. OPEN LETTER TO MY VALENTINE was written on Valentine’s Day and read at a meeting of the POETRY WORKSHOP. A TIME OF WAR is a nostalgic remembrance of the U.S. Infantry maneuvers, which were enacted close to where I lived at the time, in 1943. This was published in FLORIDA POETS SOCIETY ANTHOLOGY in 2002. Included in this publication was EPILOGUE, a poem of joy at having overcome.