Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week’s 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, and 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 “Recess.”
When was the last time
You took your mind out to play,
let it shed judgement
like an itchy sweater
and just wander where it pleased—
hunt for treasure in vacant lots,
scramble up a tree
to breath-stealing height,
slosh through pond muck
in fruitless pursuit of tadpoles?
When did you last
let your mind off the leash for a day,
to ramble, to stumble,
get mud-splashed,
get mesmerized
by mysteries under a rotting log
or the universe in a tide pool?
When was the last time
you closed your mouth,
unplugged your ears,
opened your eyes,
and simply inhabited the
here and now
while your mind
took a nap in the sun?
~Carol Alfus