Editor’s note: This Corner is dedicate to Kathabela’s wonderful mother* (Dec 15, 1920 – Dec 5, 2015).
POETRY CORNER
– 12/09/15
My mother’s hand on the Book of Life. (Handmade ring and photo by Kathabela Wilson).
Pat Geyer
in the book
her long life
penciled in…
her achievements
indelible
Pat Geyer lives in East Brunswick, NJ, USA. She feels that in her heart this tanka is dedicated to both Kathabela’s mom, Mary Blue, and her own mom, Rose. Both are exciting and colorful women who spent their last days enjoying life and loving their daughters. Their final “achievement”.
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Travel journal by Kathabela Wilson
David Terelinck
the curtain falls
as the final aria
fades away . . .
this treasured chrysalis
of blue-winged memory
David Terelinck is a writer and poet living and working in Sydney, Australia. He says “When we remember those we loved, they never really die and are always with us. It is my hope, through this tanka, that Mary and Kathabela will always be together. It is a remembrance for them both. And may Mary’s name be forever recorded in the Book of Life on her own dedicated page. Any translation from life to death requires a chrysalis…for Mary and Kathabela that shell of change encapsulates the deepest love any mother and daughter can experience. This is a chrysalis of new beginnings grounded in memory that will not fade.” David has published two beautiful books of tanka, “Slow Growing Ivy” and “Casting Shadows”.
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Unfolding books by Kathabela Wilson.
Benita Kape
never a last chapter
the book of life
unfolding
a new way
of being with you
Benita Kape is a poet living in Gisborne, New Zealand. She says “Life itself prepares us for the sequel which follows the seeming last chapter of ‘the book of life’. And so too a tanka may seem a whole life story, be it ever so short, yet a few words, a chapter, can be a lifetime of remembering things past and things to come.”
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* My beautiful mother, a beautiful glow forever… I miss her. She has been my greatest encouragement. She appreciated and celebrated all my creativity loved my poetry, participated in my life and arts., taught me by subtle influence and example from childhood. She is forever young… and with her international childhood, a great advocate for peace in the world. “Mary Blue” The Maltese name “Abela” included in my pen name has been in honor of her, and the father she loved, Michael Abela, She was his only child so we continue to honor him and her through this tribute.
♣ We welcome and encourage your response especially in the form of short poems. You may reply by leaving a comment below. The Poetry Corner is hosted by Kathabela Wilson.
Thank you dear poets and you who have commented. I love these poems so much and thank you Wafic for this beautiful tribute to my mother. I am thinking of her and this Corner has a beautiful resonance. I can almost “hear” her smile, Thank you for using my images as you did… it is all so satisfying and magical to see. I am wearing the smaller woven gold and silver -of those two rings I made – that she always wore on my pinky and my sister Maureen wears the silvery v shaped one.
How beautiful!!
well worn covers
of the book of life
are blue
sea and sky
where she touched them
~kath abela wilson
a tribute with much heart, dear Poets, & beyond!!!