Saturday, April 29, saw the conclusion of the Tioga Arts Council’s National Poetry Workshop Series celebrating the relevance that poetry has in our culture today.
Participants crafted lyrical, moving written pieces addressing personal experiences of a wide variety. With both Memorial Day and Mother’s Day approaching, poems of deep personal connections to other human beings were composed and read aloud.
Few things in life are more powerful than the relationships humans have with one another, our deepest memories and emotions link us inescapably with past interpersonal exchanges from the moment of birth until our last drawn breath.
We are a species that is capable of challenging, exciting, frustrating, harming, motivating, cherishing, enraging, nurturing and destroying one another.
We are complex, mercurial beings who have the potential to create both amazingly beautiful and fearful things.
Rhianna Poe of the Town of Owego, N.Y. focused her energy on the complicated, exquisitely nostalgic relationship of mother and child. An intimate association that is possibly the most indelible bond we have in our lifetime, a connection that significantly informs our learned reaction to others and our overriding worldview. It is a link that is undeniable and ever changing.
~
By Rhianna Poe
I carry inside of me pieces of my mother
For at one time I was a piece inside her
I carry pieces of my older sister, of my grandmothers before her and my great-grandmothers before them, because we all share pieces of each other
I carry pieces of every woman that has come before me and I already carry pieces of the daughters I may or may not have someday
I carry pieces of every woman, every where, for myself, I am woman
I carry pieces for the women who need a hand, the women who need a shoulder, the women who can no longer carry pieces, but may again one day
I hold pieces of every woman in the existence of this world, for because of them, I am woman.
~
By Rhianna Poe
I’m carrying a load of laundry up the stairs
‘hey mom, want to go get groceries?’
no, she says
I’m tired
She’s tired a lot
Napping
Not walking much
It’s only been a few weeks
But the change happened overnight
My hero
Met her kryptonite
The strong
Resilient
Powerful
Woman
Is tired
And napping
Sleeping days away
The physical pain she feels
So apparent in her small
Calculated movements
Almost a shell of who she was
Who I looked up to
The woman who raised me
Carried me
For 9 months
Then 20 years more
Now I carry her burdens
And her laundry.
The Tioga Arts Council is located at 179 Front St. in Owego, N.Y. You may visit the council’s Facebook page to view upcoming events, stop in and visit to view a rotating monthly art instillation featuring area talent, or call the office for more information at 687-0785.
The Tioga Arts Council would like to thank Dante Di Stefano for sharing his craft and knowledge of poetry writing with our community. The council is considering another writing workshop series in August. People interested in this type of program are encouraged to contact the council for more details.
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