Poetry for Spring Days
This month’s poems touch on themes of nostalgia, resilience, love, and the enduring bond of family. In “Macrame,” Nicole Freezer Rubens reflects on the simplicity and joy of youthful creativity at summer camp. Carol Ostrow’s “Time is of the Essence” inspires readers to embrace life with gratitude and boldness. Madlyn Epstein Steinhart’s poem highlights love’s power to prevail even in the face of profound loss. Finally, Lynne Bernfield’s “The Family” signifies both the passage of time and the eternal strength of familial ties.
Macrame
I loved doing macrame at camp.
My 10 slim fingers
masterminding the thick brown cord
into bracelets,
and maybe a wall hanging.
It was the center
of the seventies, after all.
I entered the arts and crafts period
in a small A-frame wooden hut
empty handed,
and left 50 minutes later
with new precious jewelry
for my wrist
and the wooden wall
in my basic bunk,
over my creaky metal framed bed.
The simplicity of the work
exploded into the fireworks
of the creation of something real,
made just from knotting string.
There was nothing to overthink,
but the start of my tan line,
which would be excavated in the fall
when I cut off the summer cuff
that smelled deliciously
like lake, sweat
and the bonds of camp friends,
invisibly, eternally woven together.
~Nicole Freezer Rubens is the author of “The Long Pause and the Short Breath”
Time is of the Essence
So, if life is what you make it they say,
Then I’m determined to have a really good day,
Not thinking of issues that havoc does play,
On mental heath that must be here to stay,
Being grateful for everything I have has grown,
Into an amazing life that history has shown,
Is so much healthier than I could have known,
By putting on the brakes that could have blown,
Into sadness and regret for steps not taken,
Which would have been much mistaken,
For caution and over thinking the deed,
Well, let me tell you and please take heed,
There’s nothing better for achieving what you need,
Then throwing caution to the wind with speed,
And going for that unknown adventure ahead,
Why you might even wind up in bed,
With your happiest self instead,
Taking the color gray and making it red,
With a sweep of a painter’s brush
Having the power to make a life so lush!
I’m happy today and wish the same for you,
Go, achieve whatever you want to do!
For when you look back when you are old
Your stories will thrill all you have told,
About a life well lived, colorful and bold!
Make haste,
Go for it now, no time to waste!
~Carol Ostrow, author of Poetry in Motion with Much Emotion
Never meant to be but
Taught them
Teach those that do
Nieces and nephews galore
Violent crime took the opportunity away when she was younger
Maybe that is why Mothers and Fathers Days are hard for many reasons
Yet,he loves her
Yet, she loves him
Never meant to be but
Love conquered all so cruelly taken
The Family
I don’t remember how it began,
The singing which would become my last memory of my mother.
Seated around the kitchen table in a California apartment
Surrounded by the stuff of our New York childhood
We were the family, as always, only ourselves.
The caregiver somewhere in the apartment, invisible.
We were the family
Mom at the head of the table
Harriet, Kenny and I seated around it.
Only dad was missing, having already gone ahead.
Over the years others had come and gone;
Friends, lovers, spouses, children stayed a while,
Like stones skipping along the water,
Making for a time, an impression
But leaving no permanent mark or indentation
I think Harriet started it, singing a snatch of a song.
I sang along, then Kenny, usually too shy to sing with us, added his voice.
Finally, Mom joined in
Mom who had always looked so young.
Now betraying her ninety-one years.
Hair, standing up and sticking out, no longer dyed
White from the roots to the place of her last beauty parlor visit,
Front toothless, her face wrinkled not only by age
But the pillow from which she had just emerged.
She began to belt out the song.
Voice strong, she delivered it.
Lyrics perfect, pitch right on,
Hands, arms, body moving in time.
We sang and sang, each song sparking another
Passing the torch from one to the other
This last time, the family.
~Lynne Bernfield, author of “Mahjongg and Murder”
Poetry is back in vogue and through The Three Tomatoes Book Publishing we have the honor of publishing books by four poets—Madlyn Epstein Steinhart, Stephanie Sloane, Nicole Freezer Rubens, and Carol Ostrow. Check out their poetry submissions each month.
