Five Poems from my Childhood
It's Five Things Friday here at Wheat & Willow! Today, five poems from my early days, from year I decided I wanted to be a writer.
When I was in high school I took a Creative Writing Class with Mr. Mark Hiskes. It changed my life. It was all new to me. Writing poetry, short stories, essays and character sketches. Those were the days of typewriters and white out, hand-written edits in the margins and starting the whole thing over again on a fresh page in the typewriter.
I’ve kept every assignment from that class and every written response from Mr. Hiskes. His words about my words held weight for me. They stretched and impacted me in ways he likely never knew. Words have power.
I fell in love with words. I began playing with them, experimenting with them. I carried a little notebook with me at all times in case a clever or lyrical phrase came to mind or in case I noticed something small that needed a description. As I read books I scribbled down words that jumped off the page, words I wanted to dance with or curl up with or laugh or cry with.
Every year our school held a writing competition to get published in Scripta, a literary collection. I had never even considered entering such a thing before. But Mr. Hiskes expected each of his students to submit at least something. So I did. I submitted entries into two categories: poetry and character sketch. I was stunned to take first place in both with all my simple writing about my ordinary life on the farm. So many others wrote about grand things and big ideas. I never imagined that I truly had anything to say.
The judge of the contest, local author and poet, Jack Ridl wrote me a long note of encouragement telling me to keep on going with the work/joy/play of writing. To pursue this for real. To keep walking around the world with my eyes wide open. “You have a real gift!” he said. I still have the note from him taped in the pages of one of my memory books. The power of those words. I wonder if he knew at the time he wrote them how they would stay with me.
In recent years I’ve reconnected with both Jack and Mark. It’s a good feeling to be able to go back now and tell them the impact their words have had on the trajectory of my life and the way I approach the world. Just one short class in high school and one brief interaction with a local author. Words matter.
Today I’m sharing these five bits of writing from the olden days of 1993. While the me of today wants to go in and edit, edit edit, here are five poems from my poetry collection as they were published in Scripta.
Checkers With Gramps was written about my near-daily game of checkers after school with my gramps who lived across the field from our house. It highlights the year his memory began deteriorating.
These I Have Loved is a stream of consciousness poem.
Wooden Words was a poem celebrating the hand hewn beams holding our barn together.
Country Breezes I still remember the assignment that urged this one out of me. We were released from the classroom and had to go find something outside the school to write about. I wrote about the dry white bird shit spots on the sidewalk. Of course I did.
Denominations Mr. Hiskes asked us to select a word for our poem title and write a poem exclusively out of words that could be made from the letters in our title word. He returned my assignment with a note suggesting that I submit it to our denominational magazine. I did. It was quickly rejected for obvious reasons.
What wonderful insights for one so young! I, of course, was especially struck by “Denominations” I would have published it. 😬
Saluting each of those teacherly voices who impacted you back then. And now, how your voice too is teacherly 💕