Aunt Emily! Oh!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Remember the smile Aunt Emily smiled?
It was, God! as if each one of them
was especially crafted for you,
kind of a You're all right, kid
(even when you were already
20, 30, or even 50)
I know you've had hard times,
doubted yourself, done things
you're never going to forgive yourself for,
but underneath it all, kid,
you're gold and I ain't never
going to let you forget it!

Aunt Emily! Oh, Aunt Emily...

[DanielBenoit]

The nostaliga of this poem is quite touching. There always seems to be a family member from childhood who sinks into your brain as you grow older.

[~Sophia~]

Wonder why I immediately thought of Aunty Em in Oz. Very clever Prince.

[AuntShecky]

Reminds me of Allen Ginsberg's poem, "Aunt Rose."

[dara.cv]

So touching, you're poems touch a tender place in such few words.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Wonder why I immediately thought of Aunty Em in Oz. Very clever Prince.

I hadn't thought of her and alas cannot now summon up the quality of her face or voice, but "my" Aunt Emily made her first appearance in a poem by her youthful nephew who was dealing with the euphemistic details provided him by his parents, trying to protect him from news of her death. The poem came from my own bewilderment over the very premature death of my younger brother and the very last of these final lines


She's an adventurer.
She's very tall.
She's my favourite aunt.
I wish she'd call.

That's all.


is, in my mind, about the most eloquent I've ever written

[PrinceMyshkin]

So touching, you're poems touch a tender place in such few words.

It's been an ongoing negotiation with myself whether to draw out this or that poem, to explain or elaborate it, but on the whole I prefer to take the chance that once the essence is there, the rest is up to the reader, as I tried to illustrate in



After the poem
comes the verbiage,
the slow leaking away
of inspiration,
the plea, as ever,
unanswered,
incomplete.

[~Sophia~]

It's been an ongoing negotiation with myself whether to draw out this or that poem, to explain or elaborate it, but on the whole I prefer to take the chance that once the essence is there, the rest is up to the reader

Sorry PrinceMyshkin. The Wizard of Oz has long been a favorite movie of mine. I watch it every time it's on so that Auntie Em came to mind for me. I unfortunately didn't have a favorite aunt. Very sorry you had to experience those deaths at any age.

[Pendragon]

I know you've had hard times,
doubted yourself, done things
you're never going to forgive yourself for,
but underneath it all, kid,
you're gold and I ain't never
going to let you forget it!




These lines spoke volumes to me...