Last week I posted a poem I wrote for my mother-in-law, a work commissioned by her for a local writing festival fundraiser. I commissioned a poem for myself and selected Bonny McDonald to write it for me.
Bonny and I have lost touch over the years, so I enjoyed our email exchanges that put us back into that comfortable place of friendship. You know the kind. When you feel like you were never really separated.
Bonny didn’t just take the questionnaire that was given by the Festival of Words organization. No, she emailed me more questions like
What makes you think of your ancestors, and what messages do you get or teachings do you carry in your heart from those who came before you in your family?
My answers to that question and to “Who is your favorite poet lately?” (Jericho Brown) led to this wonderful duplex poem just for me. I cried when she read it at the Zoom event.
Namesake
A duplex for Margaret Simon,
inspired by the portrait of her grandmother, Margaret Shields LilesThe mother of your mother is with you
Margaret, still, a figure in a paintingMargaret’s figure sits still in the painting
Her violin poised to spring up for a tuneA tune fit for a violin springs up
For the child of your child in your lapOh child of my child, a song for you
I wrote a few verses to leave with youNow to leave them is what’s left to do
A note resonates with the lift of the bowA note resonates a little while
Harmonics hold to a foundationYour grandchildren hold you to the place where
Bonny McDonald, all rights reserved
The mother of your mother is with you
Reflections on the Teche 