Archived Thoughts for 05/07/06

Thoughts of a Rural Woman

The Persistent Accent & Feedback
by The Editor, Rebecca Brown

Because I have an accent, because I see people intently watching me when I speak, because I never knew my grandmothers, & because I now have grandchildren, when The Writer's Almanac came to my mailbox offering this poem by Patricia Dobler, I was entranced:

“Until the grave covers me, on foreign soil
I shall remain Hungarian” -- Hungarian folk song

Because this fat old lady
has exactly the voice
of my dead grandma,
I find myself
trailing her through the supermarket
as she complains to her friend
about the Blacks, the kids, the prices,
age, disease, and certain death,
and I'm seduced
by that Hungarian accent
decades in this country can't diminish,
and I see the smoky fires
of the harvesters, a golden-braided girl
fetching their dinners of peppers and lamb,
and I follow her
through the aisles,
wanting to lay my face
between her hands,
to ask her for a song.

When I went in search of this poet so I could get permission to reprint, I found in the Post-Gazette of Pittsburgh (www.post-gazette.com) the following which I have edited:
     Poet & teacher Patricia Dobler was putting the finishing touches on two new projects -- a poetry collection & a master's degree in writing program — when she died suddenly at age 65, in 2004... Ms. Dobler was a member of the college's nondegree workshop, Madwomen in the Attic... These “madwomen” were frequently older students who were taking up writing seriously for the first time... She was named head of Madwomen in 1986, & in 1992... launched a literary journal, Voices From the Attic, to showcase the workshoppers' writing.
     “Her efforts on behalf of older working women are unparalleled, both in Pittsburgh and around the country,” said fellow poet Lynn Emanuel, a University of Pittsburgh professor. “There's no community poetry program like it anywhere else.”
     Emanuel said the program appealed to women “who were longing to find support, to be together, not because of any pathology, but because they wanted to be writers. Pat reached out to women who were disenfranchised and helped them find their voice... She could be as tough as hell on them. Her classes were empowering, but they were tough and exacting, too. She believed that if you worked hard enough, read enough and loved poetry enough, anybody could write a poem.”

I wish I'd known Patricia Dobler.

& now some feedback from Longtime Reader Ginger R-M in response to Of Eagles & Counters
     “Yes, spring is here in Middle Tennessee too! Although the last couple of days have been awful with tornados, high winds & heaps of rain & 2 inch sized hail; here at my house it was just some wind & rain.
     The rain is needed for the ground water was nearly depleted last year. My daffy-dills (as I have called them since childhood -- Ed. me too!) have spent their golden wad! There were lovely driffs of them of them everywhere. The dogwoods are now in bloom both the white & the pink & my tulips are blooming too. Along with our state flower the purple iris. It's lovely flags blow in the breezes & under the trees they are coming along nicely; I should have enough for a bouquet in a day or two. My lilac bushes are in bloom as well. Their heavenly scent wafts across the yard as I run in & out doing my spring cleaning.
     I noticed that the blue bird house was nasty one day last week & cleaned it out as well. I certainly hope our summer residents enjoy the cleaning.
     I have two pots of Oxalis -- my husband's Irish plant; one white & one pink, the white one is in bloom, but nothing yet from the pink.
     As I dash to the store I take the back road just so that I can see the red buds & other spring beauties. I am sure there were Jack-in-the-pulpit in that spot last year, I think as the road winds onward, but none this time. Perhaps they are waiting for some warmer weather? Or perhaps the new development as destroyed them.
     You know, living here I see so many of the same flowers in spring that I saw as a child in Ohio. It seems strange though for they don't poke up through a layer of snow! Talked to my aunt last week & her crocus (she & I planted them last fall) have begun showing through the mulch.
     So spring is here! Thanks for reminding me of these wonders that surround me, Rebecca, I tend to forget them.”

Rebecca