Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week’s segment features Suzannah Walter.
Walter is a former Montessori teacher of 24 years and now spends her days writing poetry, songs and essays. She’s surrounded by literature at her Prairie Fox Books part-time job. Much of her work is influenced by her childhood years on the family farm. Walter lives with her husband, children and their dog, Lakota, in Ottawa, Illinois.
Walter is sharing her poem “I’m dismissing the noise.”
I’m dismissing the noise
resisting the trappings of blue light media crack
and the ever-loving wrestle with attention seeking beasts
that seep into quiet moments original thought held hostage
There are book babies waiting to be chosen to be fed,
and poems eager to be spoken from the lips of a half century girl
characters hammering at the door on late winter nights,
hungry for shelter and a place by the fire
to make their stories known
And the songs
get to do the paper dance lined up for the chance that a starring role and the epic half written
perhaps the most inspiring, heartbreaking social justice musical of our times
that sits at low boil until the skills required are baked
And yes, I'm aware how long that may take. But after all, it's the process, right?
Superman's not coming, nor Bernstein.
So, I sit the driver acknowledging anxiety, relegating distraction to the way back,
because this right is halfway over. If it's even a day, and I've spent a half hour on this
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
