Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours features poems by northern Illinois poets and a few from other states. Today’s featured poet is Susan Goldberg.
Goldberg lives in Rockford, but she grew up on a small farm near a town in Indiana. Goldberg’s sister Jane taught her to read in a tiny school classroom--also known as their bedroom--before she started kindergarten. Goldberg said she briefly directed a grade school play, but that venture came to an abrupt halt when the actors complained that she was too bossy. Here’s her poem “Finding My Way.”
I held a pen in my hand. It was steady, and the words gathered onto the page like small groups of townspeople. The pen did not break, or snap, and no one grabbed it from my hand. The paper did not tear, or crumple up, or fall apart when I touched it.
The pen kept going, and filled the pages almost by itself, my hand following along like someone straining to keep their dog on a leash. The pages and the book opened, and stayed open, the pages turning as quickly as my hand could pull itself out of the way.
And then I closed my book, and tapped the cap back onto my pen, and tucked the book under my arm, and I opened the door. I stepped out into blinding sunlight and I heard the murmur of voices that turned into words and then into shouts of joy. And when I shaded my eyes with my hand I looked out and saw a sea of smiling faces.
Then I raised my book and my pen high in the air and lifted my face to the sun, and I said,
“Thank you.”
To my writing group, with thanks,
By Susan M. Goldberg May 29, 2023
