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 "All I Want."
The bumper sticker on the car in front of me read,
“Civility 2024”
Yes! I want one of those!
Correction—I want MILLIONS of those--
plastered on bumpers from sea to shining sea!
And not just on bumpers!
I want Civility 2024 T-shirts and hoodies,
caps and coffee mugs!
I want Disagreeing With Decorum
on the New York Times bestseller list.
I want Congress working across the aisle
for the good of the country.
I want a shut-down on shaming
a nix on name-calling,
and a termination of trolling
across all social media platforms.
I want the cover of Time magazine to read:
“Civility: the New Black?”
I want a country that communicates with
courtesy, kindness and respect
Really. That’s all I want.
~Carol Alfus
