Students - I never knew my Great Grandmother Marie Braun Pappier, but her chair lives in my living room now, and our kitty Claude likes to lie down in between the rockers. My mom has always told me how kind and loving Marie was, how she'd read the newspaper in that chair and rub her hands at the ends of the arms. I like thinking about how many hours it must have taken to wear away the paint, and when I rub my hands on those worn brown places, I feel connected to this ancestor of mine, Marie who married Henry, my father's mother's father.
This week you might choose to take a trip back in time in your mind, visiting an ancestor or other person you may know or may have never known. Perhaps you have heard a name or place or small story about someone from the past. Perhaps an ancestor, perhaps someone completely unrelated to you. Maybe there is an object in your home that connects with this person: a chair, a watch, a cup, a book title, a sweater, a painting or photograph. The object may be old or it might just remind you of the person.
Follow your thoughts and wonderings. Jot what rises in your mind. And see where you go. You might go to a poem place or a story place or simply a wondering place. All such places are good.
If you keep a notebook, you may even make a list of people-from-the-past to write about in your own future.
Here is a photo of my Great Grandmother Marie with my father and mother on their wedding night, midnight December 31, 1967 - January 1, 1968.
This week, Jama is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup over at Jama's Alphabet Soup with a continued celebration of the alphabet and a truly fun abecedarian. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.
We are all connected.
xo,
Amy
