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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Among my pictures are framed smiles of tender youth saved in sepia, black and white, color. Missing are images of some living only within me now, some that do not show the look, or light of eye, or rivers of warmth flowing the lifelines of my hands, my heritage. Remembered snippets, a whispered whistle, tunelss under her breath, clacking knitting needles commanded by fingers that were never still, and mirth that often spilled ephiphanies when she laughed, a little out of sync, after the fact ~ The zig-zag cut of my bangs when the scissors appeared and the command to hold still ~ Simply cinnamon anticipation she held for us children, Saturdays, the way we held savor for the rolls in the oven, simple joy with no remorse for shoulds or should nots~ Kindness, honesty, manners the bread, the leaven, and dreams born of white cotton, sheets washed in pure possibility. Melodious arrows forever lodge in soul, trace the place where others go, he and she, who called a small lass "Pet," saved her cornflower bouquets and her heart for eternity, in a small space, safe where thunder rattled mountains, and lighting wounded the sky with purple vengeance ~ The creak of an old pump, indentured servant of yesteryear, coming with a warning not to taste the frost it bore in winter, and a memory of large white buttons sewn on a red nylon dress ~ The smell of peppermint and tobacco in the pocket of Grandad's Dickies ~ the wild shock of gray hair standing on end where his forehead came to rest on stacked fists, the after-dinner table his only place to snooze, once appetite was sated with biscuits and gravy ~ Offspring grown, found roots indigenous to seasons of return, sharing each day, new, and bright with promise, Stories grew hopes around that table: adventures, misadventures and home... my heart, where they still gather, framed with love. [This message has been edited by Klassy Lassy (11-17-2009 12:31 AM).] |
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jwesley Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563Spring, Texas |
This is aboslutely wonderful, my friend - a very, very well written piece that resonates from from the soul. I've always wanted to write it...and I'm glad that you did and you did it in a way I never could have done. Beautiful, tender,soft write of heart and soul... (such incoherence is not my ususal style...but I'm stumbling, trying find the words to say how it made me feel...) Jimmy |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
Memories wrapped in treasured heirloom lace doilies and hand knitted/crocheted gifts.... this write is one to treasure forever. Thank you, for sharing this! Into my library it goes.  |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Jimmy, thank you. I think I understand how you feel about this poem. Sometimes what comes in words upon a page is so much more than the letters, and we hear and see through the gifts of soul. The ones we love give us such treasure and write on pages that come back in moments we could never have imagined.  |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Aw, Kacy!...I started to write you a letter this morning...I shall have to finish it! Thank you for keeping a wee bit of me. I don't remember doilies around when I was small. There were simply too many necessities that had to come first. Our lives were simpler then, but my mom knitted for my brother and me a lot sweaters, mittens, scarves...and baby afghans later on. She was good with her hands. Her family is all gone now, all five sisters and her brother. A few years ago, her last surviving aunt passed at 100 years of age. I spoke to Aunt Alice on the phone once. She sounded so much like my grandma with her musical laughter that tears welled instantly. After my mother passed away, I found Aunt Alice's address and wrote to her until she left us, too. I have been very fortunate in the love that came from my mother's generation! [This message has been edited by Klassy Lassy (11-16-2009 11:30 PM).] |
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Earth Angel Member Empyrean
since 2002-08-27
Posts 40215Realms of Light |
Karen, a treasure of a write and written in a homespun style but with your trademark 'Klass'. I have thought of writing an 'heirloom' poem on my heritage hearth and home ~ but I have never gotten around to it. Yours is exceptionally warm and engaging and has brought your loved ones back for your readers to get a glimpse of who they really were. This is truly a treasure for you to share with your loved ones. This was a beautiful piece of heartfelt writing. Thank you for sharing your family album with your readers. May you have inherited your Great Aunt Alice's longevity gene!  Love you! Linda  |
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Honeybunch Member Rara Avis
since 2001-12-29
Posts 7115South Africa |
Karen - So lovely and touching. Just yesterday I came across pictures of my father and grandmother which were lost for a time in my purse. They have surfaced for a reason and I think you have given me the reason and that is to remember. You have wonderful memories and have expressed them excellently. Helen |
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Marchmadness Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271So. El Monte, California |
Thank you for sharing your wonderful memories with us, Klassy Lassy. I remember those simpler times and cherish them as well. This is a keeper for me. Ida |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Linda, I hope you do write your poem. They are hard to write because so much begins to flood your memories when you begin, but there is a presence, too, that opens within and all the qualities those special ones embodied wrap you, and you know they always do! Thank you, lovely one! ~Karen |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Honeybunch, I'm glad you found the pictures! I think I need to be more diligent in using my camera. The younger generation is growing up so fast. I only blinked!  ~Karen |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Ida, thank you. Be blessed... Those cherished times and hearts keep you, too! ~Karen  |
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sewasham Senior Member
since 2006-09-11
Posts 714Oklahoma, USA |
A priceless write Karen. Just great. Take care and Have fun. Steve |
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Margherita Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236Eternity |
quote: Wonderful write, dear Klassy Lassy, and the above lines pierced into me with such power, because it reminded me of my Mother's memories ... This is deeply inspiring! Love, Margherita |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Steve, I was just thinking how long it's been since I visited one of your spectacular poems....and here you are. Thank you! |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Margerhita, I remember that old pump well, and the frost upon the wooden walkway next to it. My brother and I were quite small when we would follow my grandmother out there to get water as often as she would allow us. It was marvelous magic to us, because we only knew the modern plumbing. My brother was just tall enough to reach the handle if it were about half way up. She never did get the advantages of running water indoors or the warmth of the bathrooms we took for granted. She raised 7 children in a house that was 24' X 24', with just four rooms. It was blue-black cold in the eastern Oregon winters. My uncle slept out back in the wash house, and the six girls shared the second bedroom, although I don't remember any of them being there all at the same time. I wonder how they managed with just one old double-sized bed in that room which didn't even have a closet. I never heard Grandma complain; it just wasn't in her nature. If anyone deserved an easier life, it was she. She's been gone now many years, but her warmth remains with me yet. I'm glad my memory recalled a warm memory for you, too. Karen |
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Margherita Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236Eternity |
Yes, NOT complaining was one of the traits of that generation, dear K! I always think with deep gratitude of my grandmother and my mother who both were of that kind. No easy lives, but they would never ever complain. What a lesson! Thank you for the further details. I enjoyed them much! Love, Margherita |
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LindsayP Member Elite
since 2007-07-28
Posts 3410Australia, Victoria |
Stories grew hopes around that table: adventures, misadventures and home... my heart, where they still gather, framed with love. Oh Karen that is such a wonderful poignant write my dear, a real delight to read. I'm so glad you have shared it with us all. Bringing back all those wonderful memories from the past. Love and a gig hug. Lindsay |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
Oh lovely, you brought to mind the sound of thumb and knuckles of my grandfather's hand as he trurumped them across the dinning room table as once again the men of the family sat playing on another Sunday afternoon I was sitting there enthralled and waiting for the sound. I never did learn to play the game until I was over forty years old. And yet I looked forward to the Sunday afternoon walk to Grandfather’s house so I could sit quietly and watch the game. latearrival |
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AncientHippie Member
since 2009-10-15
Posts 411Surfing the Cosmic Flow |
This is a beautiful and poignant work that doesn't just pluck the heartstrings, but tears at them. Wonderful evocative images, redolent with sounds and scents, and underlined with love. Thank you so very much for this splendid poem. Peace Jim "We are stardust: we are golden: and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden." --Joni Mitchell "Woodstock" |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Jim, I am genuinely touched at your response, and the others, too. With the holidays coming up quickly, family now makes new memories, but even the menu carries nostalgia from days gone by that brings us all home again in a special way. Thank you. |
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Goldenrose Member Elite
since 2003-05-30
Posts 3665 |
Fantastic, so descriptive i was there and didnt want to come away, the sights and sounds, the scents and touch bringing myriad images and some questions flooding to my mind, the subject matter was and always will be precious as diamonds but the poem is a gem all of its own and i say well done and thank you for sharing it.. Goldenrose. Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,while loving someone deeply gives you courage. Lao Tzu 6th century BC. |
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naturegirl Member
since 2009-09-30
Posts 168England |
thank you for this beautiful poem. as I was reading I kept smiling remembering my grandmother knitting and being made to sit on the kitchen stool to have my hair cut, we have the zigzag fringe -bangs?- in common. I never could sit still. What beautiful memories I had forgotten, thank you for reminding me..... |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Goldenrose, I love your pen name, because it holds the savor of sun and life unfolding in sweet anticipation. Thank you for comng to share my circle with the gentles touches of your thoughtful radiance. |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Zig-zag bangs, yes! My mother could never get them straight, and they were always too short. I couldn't hold still and she had no patience with my fidgeting. As comfortable as she was with a pair of scissors in her hands, deft with thread and needle, and ingenious at teaching, there are few pictures of me when I was young where my hair is not a travesty. It was silky and white-blonde, tangled as cobwebs, unless she braided it, and that is exactly what she did, but my bangs were always nicked! My brother's hair was just as dark as mine was light, and unruly with cowlicks and an "Alfalfa rooster tail," which was an offence to her sense of decorum. She made him wear a nylon stocking on his head Saturday nights, trying to tame it for church on Sunday. It never worked, much to her chagrin, and he had a way of looking at you with lazy soft brown eyes, one of which always seems to be looking off to the side. It still is disconcerting, sort of like looking at a beloved, disheveled old teddy bear.  [This message has been edited by Klassy Lassy (11-20-2009 05:59 AM).] |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
Ah, Lassy, you have few equals when you write like this. You can take life and reportray it in such a beautiful manner that everyone can relate to it. You have a gift...don't ever stop. |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
I wrote this for a poet whose mother just passed away. Her grief is so palpable and I wanted her to "feel" the essence of her mom still present, even though, like me, she can no longer put her arms around her. I think, in writing this piece, I realize more and more the healing that comes of loving and not being afraid to love. In my younger years, I took it for granted because it was around me and my mom taught me that I could still choose it even when I couldn't see it. That remains with me despite challenges to the contrary. I feel the presence of those gone before me acutely at times. I loved them then, I love them still. Now, I am the senior woman in the family. I see the need and the want of many around me who do not understand that the richness of heart is not depleted in the giving, and I wish for a stronger legacy of love to bequeath them daily. It is my lesson, too. Thank you, Michael. |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Lindsay, I did not mean to overlook your comment. I enjoy your poems and wry insight into life very much, so it makes me happy that you liked this and perhaps stirred some memories of your own. ~ Karen  |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
latearrival, my granddad and my uncle were extremely outnumbered by the women in the family, but Grandpa had his saw filing shop, and women were more or less banned from the premises. I got the honor of telling him to come into the house for lunch or supper, but I was never allowed to linger, and I always wanted to because I knew the men told adventuresome tall tales, and I was insatiably curious and fascinated. Grandma would take time for us children to play cards in the afternoon, Flinch or Muggins. I didn't know about Poker for years. My kids all like to play cards, but they play on line, and I never did learn the strategy of the gambling. LOL I'd love to see you write about those Sunday afternoons. Will you? Karen |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
Karen, yes your post told me to start in earnest. I have many memories as I am now 77 years old. I kept journals from the time I could write. Needless to say I am over run with them. I am afraid that unless I put it all on to disc they will all be tossed into a large dump truck when I go. Some times I wonder why I do it. But they are so much fun to read. It is like reading a book about your self and it is surprising how much you forgot and then you wonder,"how did I do all of that". latearrival |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
That would be a horrific loss for your journals to be tossed. I kept journals off and on over the years, but I really wish I had written down the word of mouth stories that were told by my mother's family. They are lost now, and times are so different. I think someday my grandchildren may wonder about their ancestry and it would have a treasure to pass down. My own journals are gone, but I want to write some memoirs, whether or not anyone takes an interest. So far, none of the poetry I've written has been of interest to my children or my spouse. Writing it helped me, though. Your writing will be a lovely memoir for now as well as later. Karen |
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JamesMichael Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336Kapolei, Hawaii, USA |
A beautiful flow of thoughts in words...James |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Karen...I feel like you write the sunlight slanting through the curtain of my own past. It is poignant and touchingly tender and real. Thank you for posting it. |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
James, Happy Thanksgiving!...so glad you stopped to read and share the warmth. The circle grows, especially for you at this time. Karen |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
Martie, I know I should write much more. I'm glad to shine light in your memories, and hope you find some cherished treasure there. Can you believe this year is fast closing already? It goes so quickly, but there is always room for another joy to landmark our days. Thank you for coming to share some of mine. ~KarenKaren |
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