Monday, January 30, 2012

Stoic Kindness

Yesterday my mom brought the new issue of Poetry East to our Sunday afternoon poetry workshop. It's the Fall 2011 issue, Numbers 71, 72, & 73, containing art by Odilon Redon, and writing by George Herbert and Nathaniel Hawthorne, along with a whole bunch of contemporary poets, including my mom!

Her poem, "Tact," by Margaret Kirk, is on page 103. It was inspired by an incident in the McLean Museum of History, but it is the kind of thing any of us might have witnessed somewhere or had to handle ourselves, which, as my mom puts it, takes "stoic kindness."

She is my poetry "student" now, but I first learned about poetry from her, not to mention everything I know about stoic kindness. Thanks, Mom! And congratulations!

An extra delight is that a poem by Patricia McMillen, "Running Wild," is a couple pages away, and there's this poetry friend from Chicago running wild as a child (and a horse) in her front yard and in her imagination, becoming "a whole herd."

Further on, the poignant "Too Late," by Barry Silesky, a poetry friend and mentor. I learned about prose poetry from Barry. Favorites Michael Hettich and Lee Rossi are in there. Oh, and many more. I've only had the issue a few hours! There's a lot in it.

And my mom!

And that's my mom at Heartland Theatre, looking stoically kind in the play Eleemosynary, which means benevolence.

14 comments:

Hannah Stephenson said...

Oh my!! What wonderful news for you and your mom, Kathleen. Poetry sometimes runs in the family (my dad is a poet, too!).

Kathleen said...

Ah, Hannah, more delight! And another Random Coinciday!

Sandy Longhorn said...

Wow. This is so cool. Wahoo!

Maureen said...

Ot just cheers my heart to read about your mother and the gifts you share.

Kathleen said...

Maureen and Sandy, thanks for your goodwill and excitement!!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Peg! From Candace, a poetry co-conspirator.

Kathleen said...

Thanks, Candace!

Carol Berg said...

That is soooo awesome! Congrats to you both!

Kathleen said...

Thank you, Carol, for your joy!

seana graham said...

Beautiful.

Marcoantonio Arellano (Nene) said...

Que bueno! Tan lindo!

My mother would sit similarily stoic sometimes, in a chair, in a dark room by herself. Could only imagine the pictures of her life's view in her reverie.

Thanks for sharing.

Karen J. Weyant said...

This is wonderful (and I love Poetry East!)

Molly said...

How cool to see your mom's work in a journal! Hooray for intergenerational poetry. And I love the phrase (and the philosophy behind it) "stoic kindness."

Kathleen said...

It is cool, Molly! Thanks to you all for sharing in this joy!