Writing and Friendship
There are many reasons to write, but this one came as an unexpected gift. A poem in Stars and Strangers is about a friend from the Kwiksutainuk tribe in Canada and though I wasn't sure what her reaction would be, I am happy to say it deepened our friendship. Here are some lines from the poem called, Translators:
To those who would listen, she stopped taunts
of children deriding her friends, their fish smell,
opened eyes to native healing, expanded the air
with her stories of ghosts, elders drumming,
dancing to her songs at a totem dedication
at the Old Paramount.
My friend was the office administrator for many years at the college where I taught. We shared a lot, but one aspect I truly loved was our shared sense of mystical mystery in life. Sadly, she messaged that her husband passed away this week. She asked me to write a poem about him for the funeral.
That is a first. And I am honored.
Here are some lines I believe will stay in my memorial poem:
