Fran's poem about our Wednesday Poets gathering.

On Wednesday Evenings at the Barton Library

One hundred years ago we would have sat:

Companions and creators, then as now.

Perhaps we’d have enjoyed some idle chat.

But not completely idle.  We’d have known that

Devils find work, a Scriptural rebuke, and how

We’d scold ourselves!  Pure leisure was unknown then.

Elders, too, had evening chores. And when

Departing summer breezes rattled doors, 

A younger relative might even make

A fire in the stove for us. Just for the sake of

Warming our old bones on September 8.

Mending harness. Darning socks. And braiding

Old clothes for rugs.  Knit two, purl three, appreciating

One another’s work:

“Oh, Maude, that is a beautiful design!”

“Marie, you’ll use that shawl come wintertime!”                               

                                           *

Fran Smith

One hundred years on, we’re the elders. Leisure’s

Unapologetic, unalloyed. Pleasure is

Diversion. Lonely electronics. We have to say

We’re bored sometimes.  And so we make our way

To a basement room where we can congregate:

Befriend, support, critique (though always gently), re-create

Through poetry, aesthetic joy. Though not the ancestral way,

We share pleasure working with companions together at the close of day.

Fran and Jeannie Morris

Coda:

That was then

This is now.

This September 8th was hot as hell

So how

Can we continue to deny climate change?