Verna Lee Linxwiler Hinegardner, 1919 - 2012

 

Requiem for a poet

 

A poet is dead

and unsaid words

hover restlessly

like birds gathered

on the edge of the nest

feathered to fly.

 

Your words--

sometimes they scowl

like midnight owls

sometimes they chatter

like guinea hens

sometimes they prowl

like hungry hounds.

 

Today, your words

echo re-echo

grinding a groove

in my heart.

I need more words.

Humbly I plead:

one more poem, dear poet,

to muffle silence.

--VLH, published in The Saline Courier, Poets Forum edited by Don Crowson October 11, 2012

~~

 

Daughter - age 5 - Golfing with Daddy

 

Aren't you glad that I came, Daddy?

Won't we have a lot of fun?

Can I wear your golf hat, Daddy?

I can't see inside the sun!

 

Let me splash the water, Daddy,

Just like you did with a ball.

Look at all the tulips, Daddy!

Can't I pick some?      None at all?

 

Can I dig a tunnel, Daddy,

Just like you did in the sand?

Let me rake the sandpile, Daddy.

Hey, you jerked my little hand!

 

Daddy, I can't find your golf ball.

Is it still up in the tree?

Oh! You said a bad word, Daddy.

Wait till Mom hears that from me!

 

I don't want to go home, Daddy.

You are going the wrong way!

Can I drive the golf cart, Daddy?

Can we play again some day?

--VLH, published in Seven Ages of Golf (for Women), 1980

~~~~

 

Mosaic

 

Mosaic pieces in this book

are steps I took

along the way

to reach today.

Each piece of life, when put in place

has helped me face

what's yet to be.

Soon, now, we'll see

the final picture my life drew

and I'll show you

my wants, my needs,

my words, my deeds.

--VLH, from the front cover of her last book, Mosaic, published 2011

~~~~

 

Verna Lee never copyrighted her books. "Reprints Appreciated" she always said.

For more information on Verna Lee, see my Pitty Patter blog for 10.11.12 and go to www.rollerfuneralhomes.com (Conway AR) for an obituary. Also, she is included in the Central Arkansas Library's Online Encyclopedia.