Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week's featured poet is Carol Alfus.
Alfus has lived in McHenry County for most of her life, where she raised her family and taught special education. Now retired, she enjoys traveling, gardening, reading, but most of all spending time with her grandchildren. She has always loved writing, but poetry is her favorite. She loves the way a poem can tell a story, capture a moment, or express a range of emotions from wonder, to anger, to joy, to bliss and beyond.
Alfus takes her inspiration from the sublime (the night sky, the beauty of nature) to the ridiculous (parking lot gulls, fortune cookies) as well as the deeply personal (the birth of a grandchild, the death of a loved one). She belongs to a poetry group at her Unitarian Universalist church, and enjoys sharing her poems with family, friends and at various open mic nights around Woodstock.
Alfus has volunteered with programs for people without housing, environmental and conservation organizations and as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). Here’s her poem “Gloria in excelsis”
“We are made of star stuff” Carl Sagan
In the clear, thin air
of a high desert night
the inky sky is pierced
by countless stars
and the Milky Way spills
a ragged, smoky ribbon of light
across the blackness.
Oh, I would swim in such a sky--
tumble head-first
into its depths,
splash and kick,
sending ripples out
across the universe--
dive,
and not even need
to hold my breath--
for I am part of this ocean--
the very same
primal elements created
in that first,
furious rupture
dance in my blood
and sing in my bones.
~Carol Alfus
November 6, 2018
