A Home for the Seasons: A Memoir Poem



I spent many of my happiest childhood days at the home of my maternal grandparents--Michael and Anna (Chalupka) Koziski. They owned a small duplex on a quiet street in Peabody, Massachusetts. They lived on the left side of the house. My Aunt Emily and my cousins Karen and Joyce lived on the right side after my Uncle Stanley passed away when he was in his late twenties.

 

After the death of my Babci and Dzidzi, I decided to write a collection of poems about them and their home in order to honor their memory. Here is the first poem from the unpublished collection:

 

A Home for the Seasons

 

My grandparents’ house seems to hug their shady street.

A white duplex, its twin front doors

stand side by side

just three steps up from the sidewalk.

We always enter their house through the side door.

Stepping into the kitchen,

we find Babci sitting at the far end of the table

spooning filling onto circles of homemade dough

and making pierogis, crocheting afghans,

or snipping lacy designs from paper—

a traditional folk art she learned in Poland.

Sometimes we see her painting flowers on the cupboard doors

or hanging starched curtains she embroidered by hand.

The aroma of stuffed cabbage or babka baking in the oven

often greets us at the door.

Most days, Dzidzi spends outdoors tending to his garden

or painting the shutters green

or mending the picket fence

or building a backyard fireplace for summertime barbecues.

My grandparents always busy themselves

making their place a special place

for the family to gather throughout the year,

making it a home for all the seasons.

 

 

Anna & Michael Koziski



Four Cousins

My sister Virginia is in the back row.

Front Row (L to R) Me, Joyce, Karen

 

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Rebecca has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Sloth Reads.

 

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NOTE: I want to thank my grandnephew George Blaney for putting many of our old family pictures on CDS for close relatives.

Afternoon on a Hill: A Poem for My Mother

 

Sunday will be the second Mother's Day we celebrate without my mother. I picked out the following poem to honor her because the simplest things could bring joy into her life: a colorful sunset, the scent of lilacs in spring, a crisp autumn day, taking care of her youngest granddaughter. I think she would have liked Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem about spending an afternoon on a hill enjoying nature.

 

Afternoon on a Hill

By Edna St. Vincent Millay

 

I will be the gladdest thing 

    Under the sun! 

I will touch a hundred flowers 

    And not pick one. 

 

I will look at cliffs and clouds

    With quiet eyes, 

Watch the wind bow down the grass, 

    And the grass rise. 

 

 Click here to read the rest of the poem.

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My mother's last Mother's Day (2016)

 

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Jama has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Alphabet Soup.

 

And the Winner of THINGS TO DO for the Fourth Week of National Poetry Month Is...

The winner of a signed copy of my book THINGS TO DO is Glenda Funk! Congratulations, Brenda! Just email me your address and let me know how you would like me to inscribe the book.

NOTE: I apologize for this late announcement. I came down with my second respiratory infection in a month and have been feeling really tired and out of sorts.

First Week's Winner: Books4Learning

Second Week's Winner: Robyn Hood Black

Third Week's Winner: Brenda Harsham

All winners should email me their snail mail addresses. Let me know how you would like me to sign your books. If you want me to send the book to someone other than yourself, that's fine with me--as long as it isn't overseas.

 

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Brenda has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Friendly Fairy Tales.