|
I think
this was the music of my mother’s youth.
She danced like a flapper, I suppose,
something it can be hard
to imagine one’s mother doing,
but she showed me the Charleston
when I was in my teens.
We danced it the only way you can,
energetically,
mother and son,
between the sofa and the baby grand.
© by Richard Greene.
Used with the author's permission.
|

Richard Greene began writing poetry in the 8th grade, inspired by the opening lines of Longfellow's “Evangeline”—“This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks / Bearded in moss and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight"—which he was required to read in class. In college, after a classmate deemed Richard’s rhyming poem “trite,” he stopped writing until, a couple of years later, a class with Henry Rago, subsequently editor of Poetry magazine, inspired him to resume his efforts. But poetry fell by the wayside for almost forty years as a busy career in international development consumed his life. As retirement approached, however, Richard’s dedication to poetry returned; he has now self-published a book (Explorations -Antrim House Books), and shares a "poem of the week" (get on the mailing list by requesting it at greeneplace@gmail.com). Learn more about Richard at www.greenepage.net.
|
rhonasheridan:
What a delight! Just loved it.
Posted 05/02/2016 02:37 PM
|
Lori Levy:
Beautiful image. Glad the college classmate didn't stop you from writing!
Posted 05/02/2016 11:27 AM
|
transitions:
Smiles ~
Posted 05/02/2016 10:49 AM
|
Richard Greene:
Larry Schug makes an astute observation. The "poem between the words" is where much of poetry lies. As the Roman critic Marus Servius Honoratus declared approximately 1600 years ago: "The art of poetry is not to say everything."
Posted 05/02/2016 09:27 AM
|
Kbc:
I can see this picture and the delight of both mother and son. Thanks for sharing these moments.
Posted 05/02/2016 08:39 AM
|
paradea:
I absolutely love this.
Posted 05/02/2016 08:16 AM
|
Larry Schug:
Top shelf! Gold medal! Blue Ribbon! The poem between the words as well as the words of the poem are touch me deeply.ly
Posted 05/02/2016 07:33 AM
|
Ross Kightly:
International development can stand the loss I'm sure, and the World of Poetry can always do with stuff this charming and sharply-observed. Brilliant! Thank you.
Posted 05/02/2016 02:49 AM
|
|
|
|
|