Day 433 Paper Bag Poetry
Daily Note
Every day, a photograph, a poem. Today, while reading my Twitter feed, I found two paper bag poems from my friend Terry Elliott:
I decided to reply to both. The first was Terry’s memory of paper bag lunches at school. In my childhood, I could walk home from elementary, middle school, and high school for lunch.
Side One:
One hour
Three blocks home
No hot school lunch
No paper bag lunch,
Just a fast walk two blocks
under tree-lined Avenue D
turn right one block to Avenue C and home,
unless I slipped through the side yard
at Hart’s apartments,
turning right at the blue morning glories
on the neighbor’s fence
along the grassy strip
behind the landlord’s garage
to the back door
and the wooden table
in our kitchen, sitting
in the same chair always,
the one blocking the pantry door
just in front of the gas stove where
Mom scooped a bowl of
Campbell’s chicken noodle soup
to add to the P B & J
on white bread
for an easy lunch and a break
from school.
Note: that table stands in
my kitchen today,
complete with the worn leg
bruised from pushing in my chair
in Mom’s kitchen
to enter the pantry.
~ Poem from Memory, Sheri Edwards, @grammasheri
The second poem is finding oneself retired and now without all the daily teaching focus on helping provide the best and most thoughtful lessons for student learning and agency, which Terry was devoted to provide his university students, and which I tried my best to provide my middle school students. Finding oneself retired lifts a ton of responsibility, worry, and time: it’s a whole new world to fill.
Side Two:
And now I lunch
no white bread
1/2 whole wheat muffin
slice of turkey
Swiss cheese
spinach
horseradish mustard
responding to twitter poems
of connected friends
because I can:
I’m retired.
I can walk an hour anytime
in our tree-lined neighborhood
two blocks to the park
over a white footbridge
over Fiddle Creek listening to the songbirds.
I can read and write and draw and create,
learning more, relaxing more,
and letting go
of that which I cannot change.
And be grateful everyday that I can;
I can enjoy the rich conversations
and hugs of a loving partner
as we walk in the journey
of old,
old learners
still moving forward
to better the world as we can.
retired and still learning, Sheri Edwards @grammasheri
And that brought my photo and thoughts on today. In my pictures you can see on the left the table in my kitchen and my mom’s salt shaker with the Scotty dog, given to her by a friend because her nickname was “Scotty.” On the right you see my art in our couch cover. Past to present.
And so delighted and thankful to Terry for the inspiration, and hope that he will fill his days in his holler with more time to tend the farm with his loving wife and visits from his children. Stay safe, friend.
Paper Bag Poetry
Retired, learning art;
sharing, connecting, writing
with paper bag poems.
Sheri Edwards
052021 14036521
Poetry/Photography
Categories
A Bit of My Day, art, CLMOOC, Community Local, Photography, PLN, Poetry, Remember the Moments, Slice of Life
Sheri Edwards View All
Geeky Gramma ~~
Retired Middle School Language Arts/Media Teacher ~~
Writer and Thinker~~
Art from the Heart
1DR What Else? 