Poetry Friday - So Much Remembering!

     It's Poetry Friday, and Patricia J. Franz is hosting on her website, Reverie, here! Be sure to visit to read her wonderful words about summer! And visit all the other Poetry Friday writers! Thanks for hosting, Patricia! 

     SPECIAL NOTE: I know that many of you are unable to comment today. Blogger appears in disarray. Even I can't thank Mona for her nice comment. I also don't understand how she was able to comment? So, enjoy my words, & I wish all of you a lovely holiday weekend!

      We ended August saying goodbye to so many people, great people, and you may know more than those I am thinking of: Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, Yayoi Kusama, and just yesterday, Gloria Steinem!  Among these, today I'm also remembering the poet, Wendell Berry! Of his poems, many know "The Peace of Wild Things", comforting all when feelings are low: "When despair for the world grows in me.. ."  

      I've also read some about him as a farmer, living all over the world, yet eventually he ended up a farmer in what he named Lane's Landing, in Kentucky. I've been to Kentucky numerous times because my grandson went to college there. It is beautiful land, one I'm not surprised Berry fell in love with.

       Though I've been in Colorado for a long time, I grew up in Missouri, with two grandfathers who were farmers. They, too, had gorgeous land, and when Joan Rush McCullough shared Shirley Thacker's recent Farmku, illustrated by Clara Elffers, I snatched it right away! 

       With those briefest of words, Shirley's haikus bring scenes depicting my own memories, then Clara brings them to life with her special print-making. Warm colors bring warm feelings on every page. Yes, I rode with a grandfather to gather the cattle each evening, gathered eggs from fussy hens, and learned to bottle-feed tiny lambs born a bit too soon. Here's a glimpse from the book!

          I am remembering, too, that today is the anniversary of my husband, Arvie's, passing. It's been thirteen years, and every day, something brings him to me. 

         Poetry's the gift we all love, right? In their own spectacular ways, Shirley and Clara in their book, Dolly in her songs, Tim in his voices, Yayoi in her paintings, Gloria in her strong voice, and Wendell in his words, all have given us poetry. 

         Hope you get to find and enjoy Farmku!