Epilogue of a Poem

 

Epilogue of a Poem

 

by Alice Jane-Marie Massa

 

 

Have you ever taken a ride on “Cloud Nine”?  Well, I feel as if I did over Labor Day weekend.  “Fifty Years Later, Meet Me,” the poem which I posted here on Wordwalk last Wednesday, seemed to take on a life of its own; and it hit the poetry road.  First, my cousin Carole Morgan, who has been living in Florida, posted on the Facebook site for alumni of Clinton High School (Indiana) an announcement about my book’s availability at the Little Italy Festival.

 

After Fran Rayce, formerly of Indiana and now a longtime resident of Michigan, read my blog post last week, she brought the poem to the attention of our Clinton friend Mary Fornero  while they were preparing the Piccola Casa (restored Little House) for visitors of the Little Italy Festival.  Then, Mary Fornero took a printout of the poem to Mrs. Diane Waugh at the office of The Daily Clintonian.  So, much to my surprise, my poem “Fifty Years Later, Meet Me” was published in The Daily Clintonian on Friday, September 1.

 

On Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend, at the Clinton Public Library, Susie Zanandrea was kind enough to take photos of the display of my book, The Christmas Carriage and Other Writings of the Holiday Season.  Not only did she e-mail to my sister two wonderful photographs of the remarkable display, Susie also e-mailed a photo of the page of the Clinton newspaper with my poem.  When my sister, another Mary, described the photos to me, I was thrilled about the display at the Clinton Public Library and was very pleasantly surprised to learn that “Fifty Years Later, Meet Me” was in the newspaper that was such a daily part of the lives of my grandparents, parents, other relatives and neighbors, and me.  The epilogue of this poem with an Italian flair does not end here.

 

Rosemary Iacoli, a friend of Mary Fornero and a board member of the Clinton Public Library, took the poem to the library on Saturday so that a printout of the poem was added to the display which included copies of my book and copies of two recent blog posts.  I was especially pleased that the display of my book and writings coincided with the library’s special genealogy exhibit.  Later, Susie also posted the photos on another Facebook site–“If You Grew Up in Clinton, Indiana, You Remember.”

 

Then, my poem landed at the train station!  Joanie Jenkins, another Little Italy Festival volunteer and friend of Mary Fornero, took a copy of my festival poem to the renovated train depot/Coal Town Museum and added my poem to the Art Show of the Little Italy Festival.  Here is where the “Poetry Train” stopped, but my splendid memories of all the attention which my book and other writings received will warm my heart through many upcoming rainy autumn days and snow-filled winter months.

 

Knowing that my holiday book and one of my poems had so many more opportunities to be read by many more people in my hometown area filled me with excitement, happiness, and gratitude.

 

A bouquet of special thanks to Mary Fornero, Fran Rayce, Rosemary Iacoli, Joanie Jenkins, Susie Zanandrea, Diane Waugh, Carole Morgan, Mary Fanyo, the LIFT Board, librarian Ashley Wolfe and the staff of the Clinton Public Library!

 

To see the photos of the display at the library and my poem in The Daily Clintonian, please visit my author’s web page:

http://www.dldbooks.com/alicemassa/

 

More thanks to David Dvorkin (DLD Books of Denver, Colorado) for posting the photos on my author’s web page and to my critique group–Leonard Tuchyner, Abbie Johnson Taylor, Brad Corallo, and Valerie Moreno–who first read the poem “Fifty Years Later, Meet Me” and encourage me to share it with a wider audience!

 

Happy September to all!

Alice and Leader Dog Willow

 

September 6, 2017, Wednesday

 

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