Poetry Break

In this episode we look at two poems wherein the writers question whether there was some discernible moment when they became an adult and have they missed it. Pour yourself a cup of tea, or perhaps for this episode, you might choose an Adult Beverage, as they say!

For 50s children, our fathers were often an enigma, someone whose voice boomed and presence loomed over us. Unlike mothers of the period, they were gone from the home most of the day so that we saw them for a short time in the evening and weekends. As we grew into adults, we put the clues we had gathered over the years together to find that they were really the same as us, the same as our mothers.

Our poems in this episode will be 'Address to the Beloved' by Tony Hoagland and 'John to My Yoko, Paul to My Linda' by me, Karen Karl. In both poems, the writer is struggling to understand just what actions portray Love.

Is dreaming the closest we can come to truly being someone else?

Our first poem is by Gail Martin from her collection 'Begin Empty Handed.' Our second poem will be 'For Want of a Nickel' from my collection, 'Lost in the Moment: A Memoir, and Other Moments.'