Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by Northern Illinois poets. This poem is by Carol Obertubbesing.
Obertubbesing grew up in Union City, New Jersey and saw the New York skyline every day of her life until she left. In 1969, she became part of the first coed class at Princeton University. She calls that the defining event of her life.
The Princeton Alumni Weekly published an article she wrote about her experience as one of the first women to attend Princeton. She returned to Princeton almost every year for reunions and other events and now serves as Regional Vice President for the Class of 1973. In 2019, she organized a national conference held in Chicago to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Undergraduate Coeducation at Princeton. Last year, the University gave her the Distinguished Service to Princeton Award.
Obertubbesing has served on the Board of Woodstock Folk Festival since 1993 and has organized the festival’s virtual performances for the past two years.
She’s worked in public tv and radio. She was the director of Outreach at WGBH, and at PBS she was the associate director of the Elementary and Secondary Service. She said she is an avid listener of public radio.
This week’s poem “February Awakening” was written for the celebration of Groundhog Day. Obertubbesing lives in Woodstock, Illinois -- film site for the movie Groundhog Day.
Come to those who seek the light.
February 1, we honor St. Brigid of Kildare
With crosses and parades for the one we consecrate
The patron saint of babies, midwives, farmers, and poets
She who brings us from darkness to light.
The next morn, we awake to Candlemas
With crepes and dances for the Christ incarnate
Honoring the Child in the Temple and the Virgin of the Candles
They who bring us from darkness to light.
The vigilant buck-toothed face peeks out of its burrow
The polka band plays while we eagerly wait
“Will he or won’t he?” we all want to know
Will we move from darkness to light?
Called Phil, Willie, Dave, Chuck, Jimmy, and Gus
They’re joined together on this special date
Known as marmot, woodchuck, and whistle-pig
They all proclaim whether it will be darkness or light.
Feasting on twigs, branches, flowers, and berries
He builds a chambered burrow to hibernate
As he emerges on this cold, gray morning
We want him to signal the move from dark to light.
As we step into the puddle of life
Give us the hope to which we all relate
Seer of Seers and Prognosticator of Prognosticators
Be the beacon leading us from dark to light.
Who doesn’t love this winter Festival
That makes us wrestle with luck and fate
We twirl through the snow-filled streets
In search of love, peace, laughter, and light.
And if he sees his shadow today
We learn that lesson blessed and great
Patience gives its own reward
We can lead each other to the light.
Disappointment builds resilience
Peace and love follow war and hate
Transformation and redemption
- 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.
