"Chicken today, feathers tomorrow"

(for Grandma Irene)

Published on May 1, 2006 By Buddah Moskowitz In Poetry

I heard that song today
and I pictured you
in your floral print muu-muu
in your overstuffed chair
in that stuffy duplex
in San Fernando Valley

Has your limp healed yet?
Are you finally at peace
and not worried
about your wayward children?

I can still hear your voice
comforting and cautious
"Chicken today, feathers tomorrow"

your gently acrid humor
would sure come in handy now

there was so much
I could've learned from you
but you died too early
and I became a parent too late

I hope they're playing
Englebert Humperdinck
in heaven for you.

Comments

Ms Mitchell

on May 10, 2006

Buddha,
This piece was so evocative, I can almost smell her bath powder. I really like your conversational, un-self-conscious style. You just tell it like it is and it takes your reader to exactly where you are. Nicely done.
My grandma preferred Tom Jones.
Maggie

Buddah Moskowitz

on May 10, 2006

Maggie,

Thanks for the kind comment. When people don't comment, I start to second guess myself. (Then I remind myself of how many things I read and never comment on, and I feel a little better.) I am currently trying to read more traditional poetry, but for the life of me, but I keep missing the emotional center of these "classic" works.

For the record, my mom is a Tom Jones fan. -- Buddah

Ms Mitchell

on May 11, 2006

Buddha--I get Writer's Almanac e-mailed to me every day from PBS.org. Garrison Keillor features a poem a day--some traditional, some contemporary. I enjoy reading this every day. It gives me an insight into what published writers are doing. Some days I think I'm way out of my league, I'll never be able to write like that; other days I think I've done better stuff than that...
Actually listening to Keillor reading the poems helps finding the emotional center in some of the pieces.--Maggie

Buddah Moskowitz

on May 11, 2006

thanks for the link - I'll go get it. I found in my local library a great book on the craft of poetry called the Poetry Home Repair Manual. (I honestly picked it up thinking it was a home repair book done in verse.) It gives good exercises and insights about the writing process. Plus, it was a fun read.Link

I agree that there are some days where I feel like I am writing the same poem that I started in 1978. Then other times I feel that I am going deeper into my true self - to a place somewhere beyond technique.

Other days, I feel like my writing is just one long list.
Thanks for your words of encouragement. They really do mean a lot.

foreverserenity

on May 11, 2006

Buddah, I'm just getting to this, JU's been a little hard to maneuver this week.

I liked it. It's simple and beautiful. A wonderful tribute to your mom.

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