On My Mother's Birthday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 04/13/2015 - 20:27What was it like, in that farm house
beside the Connecticut river
eighty four years ago
when my mother was born?
Did her older siblings
gather round
in joy and wonder and awe?
Did they help with the chores?
And her parents,
did they worry about
another mouth to feed
in the early days of the great depression?
The stories I remember are idyllic
playing by the side of the river
in the warm summer sun
without a care.
But what about the hard times?
Was she ever cold or hungry?
Was she ever picked on
by siblings or classmates?
Years later,
some of the stories came out
on my grandmother’s death bed.
Now, they’re both gone.
So I think of the sunlight
bouncing of the breeze blown ripples
of the slow summer river
and not the privations.
It’s probably what she would want me to remember
anyway
The 2016 Democratic Primary - Pregame
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 04/12/2015 - 19:17This morning on Facebook, Zephyr Teachout put up a post that starts “Primaries are the bedrock of democracy.” I got to know Zephyr during the 2004 presidential later, she challenged Andrew Cuomo in a primary for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York. Her post included a link to an article about Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.
While there is great focus on Hillary Clinton as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in 2016, it is worth remembering that for the United States, “primaries are the bedrock of democracy”. So, I’m keeping an eye on the other candidates, particularly Martin O’Malley and Lincoln Chaffee.
I went to hear Martin O’Malley last month and give him a mixed review. I haven’t looked enough at Chaffee to have an opinion there.
Many of the comments on Zephyr’s Facebook post focused on issues like fracking and common core. These are not likely to be dominant for the broader population. Nor are they, for me at least, make or break issues. However, having a good debate about these issues on the campaign trail would be good for all of us.
I mentioned there, as well as I mentioned to the members of the press I ran into up in New Hampshire, that at this point in 2004, Dick Gephardt was the front runner and few people had heard of Howard Dean. We’ll see what happens this time around, but I think it is important to remember that we’re at the beginning of the primary process, not the end.
Saturday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 04/11/2015 - 20:44Today, I got to the dump, did a little politics, went for a walk, did a little Ingress napped a lot, and went to my relatives for dinner. I didn’t get a chance to work on the poetry class or do a few other online tasks on my to do list, as so I’ve slipped further behind.
I have a few blog posts in mind, mostly around poetry and politics, but they will have to wait until I have more time.
News
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 04/10/2015 - 21:01It’s national poetry month.
I read the prompts on twitter.
I join a webinar
on young folks activism.
I watch the Dickinson videos
in an online class.
The candidates position themselves
for the upcoming presidential election.
The dead are mourned.
Deals are struck.
Baseball season has begun.
The snow has given way
to fog and rain
and in the plains
tornados spawn.
Dinner has been eaten.
The sun has set.
Sleep.
Milestones
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 04/09/2015 - 20:09I’ve written a blog post every day this year, so far, and drafts of poems, pretty much every day of Lent. I hit some milestones in the augmented reality game, Ingress, that I play. I continue my way through the latest MOOC on American Poetry. Now, it is Emily Dickinson.
I read the news, paying close attention to the upcoming presidential election, the shooting in South Carolina, and the closing of colleges. At home, I do what I can to keep the house running smoothly as people fight illnesses.
So, there are days when the blank page just seems so much more daunting, days that I let my assignments for the poetry class slip a little more, and days when I head off to bed early.
It is part of the ebb and flow, and even this, is potential grist for other writing.
