Mama

Mama

Got a photo postcard today
from my brother who stayed
back on the old place

north of Concordia
when the rest of us moved to Colorado.
Looks like they've got no complaints.

"Richard on Eds shoulder,
he couldn't look out. Mrs. and myself
in our oats field, it made 62 bu."

We watch the clouds build up in the west,
watch them pass by our fields,
watch them continue east to deliver their rain.

It's sure enough dry here -- nearly desert.
But there's a beauty in it, and we are learning
to lean into the wind and weather. We'll stay.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Jack

Jack

Mama gave me my own camera
for my eighteenth birthday.
She seems to believe

that I could profit from studying the world
instead of always trying to get the world
to look at me.

Your plot backfired, Mama.
The herefords are watching.
And behind the shed, so's Henry.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Henry

Henry

Dear Iva,
I didn't think Mama
would miss just one.

Guess she knows her flock
better'n I thought.
It sure was fun

to see that photographer's face.
If I hadn't started laughing,
no one would have known I done it.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016





A note to my readers: these stories and these characters are works of fiction. With very few exceptions, I have no idea who the people are in these photos. The names of many of the characters come from my ancestors and their friends. Other names are ones I chose to fit the character. The settings are real. My mom is from Denver and my dad grew up on a farm in Eastern Colorado (although some of these photos could be of ancestors/family friends further back who lived in Nebraska and Kansas). If we could sit down together for a cup of tea and a scone, I'd tell you all the little bits of truth I've woven into this fiction. I'd tell you the biggest surprises I've had, and the poems that took the most/fewest drafts. Like Amy LV commented, sometimes I feel like these people are talking through my pencil.

I did not have this all planned out before Poetry Month began, except that I grouped the photos in sets of seven to have ready to load onto the main page for the project. I had no idea I would be telling a story in verse this month. I'm as surprised and thrilled as you are. I expected to be frustrated by the challenge of writing a variety of poems, and instead, I look forward (and often can't stop myself from writing forward) as I discover the story and figure out ways to fill in the gaps. How will it end? No idea. Stay tuned. (If you want to read from the beginning, go back to the poem for April 1, and read forward to today.)

Over at Poetrepository, I have added (with permission) poems that Steve Peterson and Carol Wilcox have written that seem to me to fit with the flow of the story I've got in my mind. Carol Varsalona has also written some fabulous partner poems using these photos. You can find them here.

Happy Poetry Month Poetry Friday! Laura has the roundup at Writing the World for Kids.

Mother

Mother

Iva, I made this move
for your own good.
You will become

a proper lady.
I let Auntie down,
but you will overcome

growing up on that wretched farm.
You will rise in society
to the level you are from.

You can squirm all you want,
but I've got you firmly
under my thumb.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Iva

Iva

Dear Henry,
I found this picture of Mother
in Great Uncle's attic.

Wishing I could send you
that dead coyote.
Bet it would be worth more than

all those skunks you trapped
last summer
when you hatched that plan

to get rich quick.
Let me tell you,
rich ain't always grand.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Iva

Iva

When Mother's rich uncle in Denver died
and left everything to her,
she took it as a sign

that we were meant to leave
"that dirty farm" and
"those ignorant farm wives" behind.

I missed the class picture,
but Marjorie wrote and told me
how Jack masterminded

a plan to become
as famous as his siblings.
I wish I had been there to remind

him -- be happy with what you are
and what you've got.
Sometimes good enough is just fine.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Lizzy

Lizzy

When Lewis came home
from basic training
Jack suddenly remembered the chores

Pop has been nagging him to get done.
Everyone looks up to Lewis.
He's a natural-born

pilot if there ever was one.
Why does everyone's favorite
have to go off to some war?


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Henry

Henry

It stinks being youngest.
Lizzy's famous
for her forty-inch hair,

and Jack's the ringmaster
whose life is a circus.
Last week, he made a pair

of dogs do a pony show,
and now he's holding
a pig in the air

by its back feet.
With one hand.
Being youngest is just not fair.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Lizzy

Lizzy

Over mama's shoulder
I see Jack, cornering
a shoat in the corral.

He's going to show
how he can hold
it up by the hooves.

Henry's watching, also.
Jack, do you know he idolizes you?
Watches your every move?


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Poetry Friday -- Bygones

Jack

He had a reputation
for being a prankster
and a tease,

but if you could
stop time,
somehow freeze

the moment,
you would realize
that he's

not forcing them
to do this. All they want
is to please.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Happy National Poetry Month! When Mom and I were sorting through a drawer full of old pictures last December, I was struck by the forgotten faces and the unknown stories that were captured on film. This April, I'll bring 30 of the photos back to life through poetry. The main home for this project is on my poetry site, Poetrepository, but I'll be cross-posting here at A Year of Reading every day in April.

Amy LV has the Poetry Friday roundup today at the The Poem Farm. Let the wild rumpus known as Poetry Month begin!!!