CW Poetry Class: Week 4 Poem

My mom had to raise me and my sisters nearly alone, and she is a great inspiration to me. Her favorite poem is “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost so I borrowed a few lines from it. This specific form of poem is called a pantoum in which the lines 2 and 4 from the first stanza become lines 1 and 3 in the next and on goes.

Mama’s Poem

She bore great burdens as child and mother,

and ended up both mother and father.

She braved the world, her and three girls.

Where did she get her strength from?

She was both our mother and father

and raised us on her own.

Where did she get the strength

and courage to take the road less travelled by?

She raised us on her own

and got her bachelor’s degree.

She showed us the road less travelled by,

and how to make a difference

CW Poetry Class: Week 3 Poem 2

This poem glorifies my maternal grandparents as I see their story in my head. The title means “glory to love” in German which I chose to highlight my grandfather’s heritage. It was supposed to be a Shakspearean sonnet, but I stink at iambic pentameter, so there it is.

Erhe sei Leibe

Many years ago a young air navigator went on a date

with a farm girl from Texas. I wonder if then they knew

that one day they’d marry and have a family so great

with three granddaughters that love them a slew.

Together they raised three girls and taught them that education

hard work, and experience in life paid off big time.

As long as they did well and practiced their chosen vocation

they would be happy and healthy and live just fine.

One daughter had three girls herself and raised them the same,

and those girls grew up through life’s highs and lows

knowing that if they messed up it was all part of the game.

The girls all looked for familiar qualities in their beaus:

The knowledge, determination and affection that goes the distance
worthy of comparison to 57 years of devoted and caring existence.