Tribute

Naomi Elmendorf Johnsone
1907-1969

As promised last post, there will be a few more poems coming. This one I wrote in response to a prompt from our semi-monthly poetry group through the YMCA. 

PROMPT: Write a poem centered around someone or something who drives your spirit and fills your soul.

THANK YOU, MOTHER

When I wanted to tell a story, you’d hear me out

When I wanted to pretend, you’d take a role

When I wanted to write, you’d spell a word

When I wanted to draw, you’d find a tablet

You listened to my piano compositions with visible delight

You clapped long and hard at my acting and my plays 

You praised my drawings and showed them to you friends

You took dictation for the poems and stories I made up

I grasp now how you saw the spark and fed the fire

I appreciate now how you fanned those flames to burn for life

I thrive now because your gift has lasted more than eighty years

I write now this tiny tribute to you, dear long-gone mother 

With joy 

With awe

With love

With gratitude

                        Sara J. Glerum

                        April 2022