held together by shreds of faded fabric, pages torn, inside inked December 1914, that cursive once on chalkboards all across america, found it in the trash where my father had placed it, rescued history, my hands cradling the past, how could you throw this away?, i thought, but never said a word, her poems carefully pasted next to drawings of men and women, little girls, dolls and dogs, lakes with sailboats, christmas greetings from the 20’s, dance cards, foxtrot, lindy hop, young love in pencil marks, pressed carnations, color long gone, diaspora of flower petals wedged into the treasure’s every crevice, army v. navy football ticket, pink powder puff once pressed on a face, my grandmother’s, her life still here, with me forever.
Tag: Grandmother
She Drives Real Fast
don’t call her old
or elderly, foot on the
accelerator, doing 73 mph
on a south carolina highway
near myrtle beach, my
91-year old grandmother
in her pontiac, like the
jan and dean song about
the lady from pasadena
she died a year later
left me the car
determined to follow her
lead and never stop
moving forward
Lakeshore
A 3rd drawing by my Grandmother. I’m guessing this is Lake Ontario in the early 1930’s.
Flapper
This is another drawing by my Grandmother from the 1920’s.
Man Plays Accordion
This is one of my Grandmother’s drawings from 1928.
The House of Love
This is a second poem by my Grandmother Ethel from her scrapbook.
Our Wisdom
I found this poem in my Grandmother’s scrapbook, I believe it is from the late 1920’s.
The Veltin School For Girls
I’ve been going through my Grandmother Ethel’s scrapbook. My Grandmother attended The Veltin School in New York City. In the coming days I’m going to post some of her artwork and poetry. She lived her life in New York City, Rochester, NY, then Myrtle Beach, SC, for retirement. I was very close to my Grandmother (1907-2000). We were/are both poets and spiritual people. I’ve taught at a school serving girls for several years now, my Grandmother further connects me to that work and the historic mission of those institutions.
More about The Veltin School: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veltin_School_for_Girls
Who Was Judd Nelson?
St. Elmo’s Fire, now obscure
80’s movie, song, stuck in my head
I imagine myself ninety two
like my grandmother once was
humming lyrics, words
Bye Bye Blackbird
in a room full of people
with blank faces
Judd Nelson long forgotten
Daniel W. Polk 