Friday, April 18, 2014

P IS FOR PASSAGES

I am not participating in any of my regular "features" while the A to Z is going on. However, Battle of the Bands did happen without me. I promise I will be back at it on the 1st of this month. However, I did want to take a moment and give a Shout Out to the other folks still participating. It's a lot of fun and I hope you drop by and vote on your favorites.


Just click on their name and it will link you directly to the current Battle of the Bands post.

 My theme for A to Z this year is a wildly different, but very exciting, HERE'S TO YOU all month long. 26 posts to be precise. The most difficult part was narrowing down the 26. All of you deserve your own post. What you will find here is a post by the featured blogger, with traveling music chosen by me that complements said post, and two links. One will link back to the original post and the other to the main page. This year's A to Z is all about making new friends!

...as in Middle Passages written by Liza Carens Salerno. Liza is one of the first readers of this little old blog. It's hard to believe that we've been reading each other since 2010. Where does the time go? I cannot say enough good things about Liza. Reading her blog is often akin to curling up in a comfy blanket. It's warm and inviting and just so darn pleasurable.

While today's offering is one of my personal favorites from Liza's blog, I must confess that she doesn't usually write poetry. I just think this is such a gorgeous bit of writing, filled with love, and it makes me all mushy inside whenever I read it.




Cue the traveling music:



For My Daughter On The Cusp of  Twenty by Liza Carens Salerno
7/1/13
 
I see in you a 2:00 a.m. face.
Amber light in a wing-back chair,
The talcum arc of rounded cheeks,
Coils of love vining an invisible wire.
I had yet to know we all remain infants.
Even as we grey, life casts us
Into washing machine blizzards,
Snapping limbs,
Marathon bombs and such.
How to explain—
In some way, you will always feel
Two, or seven or ten or nineteen.

At eighty-one my father said
He didn’t feel different
Until he looked in the mirror.
Now I understand.
I sit on the contoured cushion
of that aging chair,
while down a narrow hallway,
you sleep folded into yourself 
like a moth turned toward the wall.
Bound now by compound steel,
nothing is the same.
But nothing changes.
I know only that
You remain every age you ever were
On the path toward what you'll be,
Your nineteen as young as fifty-four,
Twenty as old as my ninety-three.


Liza, you regularly touch my soul with the beauty of your writing. Anyone who follows the links in the blog are signing up for a little blessing. Who doesn't need more of those? 

20 comments:

  1. Liza is a sweetheart. One of my first followers. I remember that poem she wrote for her daughter.

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  2. What a wonderful poem for her daughter. I've never met Liza.

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  3. True! It's just too bad our bodies can't look as young as we feel!

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  4. Everybody needs to go vote at Stephen McCarthy's blog so he doesn't stop posting Battle of the Bands posts.

    I've been blogging friends with Liza for as long as you have I guess. I missed this beautiful poem last year. So true it is.

    Lee
    Wrote By Rote
    An A to Z Co-host blog

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  5. That is beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

    Happy Easter, Robin.

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  6. This is an amazing poem. I just got lost in it for a second read, and I want to re-read it. It's so beautifully profound. I'm glad to have connected with Liza, but I don't visit her nearly enough. Thanks for the motivation, for highlighting her.

    Have a great weekend.
    xoRobyn

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  7. Robin!!! Oh you are a love! I just got back from a trip to Boston...from the site of the bombings...a pilgrimage, if you will...and I found this. I was floundering when I wrote this poem last summer, wishing we could live in a world where my daughter didn't have to encounter such evil. But this here...and what I encountered in the city today (I will surely write about that) has made me feel warm, and sure again...and glad for the writing I HAVE to do on Middle Passages. Thank you for being such a kind blogging friend.

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  8. Alex ~ How lovely that we share Liza in such a great way? She was one of my first followers, too:D

    Rachna, Diane, LD, Sandra ~ :)

    Sherry ~ Ah... true enough.

    Arlee ~ Yes, I hope folks visit Stephen's blog and VOTE. Glad you caught this one on the second time around.

    Robyn ~ It is really lovely. I particularly love the last four lines.

    Liza ~ Ah, my dear. I agree. There is so much that happens in this world that we simply don't understand. Sometimes it all feels like a big ole stage. And maybe it is. Of course, thinking like that causes floundering all its own. I think every bad thing that happens (on a big and small scale) simply serve to remind us of the preciousness of this thing called Life. And no matter how much evil exists there are so many good people, too. We can't ever forget that.

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  9. It is very well done!! I'm headed over to say hello.

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  10. That is something to think about. I shall do that if I ever have time to think. Ha The chicken coop is finished today but I'll hold off putting the chicks in it for a few more days. They are my pets and I hate to see them go outside. I have one little escape artist whio is the smallest and I don't know how she gets out. So much for chickens.
    Lisa and I have commented back and forth a few times but not steady.

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  11. Hi human, Robin,

    Such pawfound pawetry
    Many thoughts to see
    I see my reflection
    And no dejection
    For what I see
    Pleases me
    Not an old dog
    In a fog
    Instead I see
    My inner puppy.

    You are so good sharing your human friends on here, dear Robin. My fictional human and I are most grateful.

    Pawstive wishes,

    Penny the cordial host of the Alphabark Challenge! :)

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  12. I remember reading that post. She is a lovely person and writer.

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  13. That's a beautiful poem. Robin, I am glad you featured Liza today and introduced us newbies to her. I'm on my way there now.
    Deb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com

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  14. Yes, the sentiment in the poem is wonderful. Especially like these two lines, which are so true.

    You remain every age you ever were
    On the path toward what you'll be,

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  15. Rosey ~ ::claps hands::

    Briane P. ~ I know. I love it.

    Manzi ~ The things you say still surprise me. I would never have guessed you have a chicken coop... but I should. I assume the chickens are now in the... house?

    Gary ~ I am so tired this morning. I would love to channel my inner puppy.

    Susan ~ Yes, she is.

    debi ~ So glad that this A to Z has helped you make friends.

    J.L. ~ I love the end. So powerful and gorgeous.

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  16. OMGosh That was a powerful poem. Thanks for sharing the poem and definitely checking out her blog at Middle Passages.

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  17. Though I've recently come to know and adore Liza, I'm so glad that you shared this beautifully written poem, Robin!

    Julie

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