NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS

 

A series of essays and poetry,,,,

                 

RED ROSE: IT’S THE ROSE OF ROMANCE AND DEEP FEELINGS
BUT CAN RELAY DESIRE, BEAUTY, VICTORY, 
HARMONY, JOY, LUCK AND PRIDE

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Friendship can touch a multitude of lives in many different ways. It may have a slightly different meaning for each person involved, but, for the most part, being friendly towards one another, kind and loving, is the preferred attitude in life and so many people are newly discovering the innate beauty of this philosophy.

The poetry class I attend twice a month is entitled Voices on the Margin. May I say that this group of eight strong women, evolving from various educational backgrounds and careers, take extreme pride in revealing our own strengths and weaknesses, knowing that we will always be listened to by one another. 

We will not be belittled or bullied no matter what we have to contribute to the group. And, conveniently, we learn about other poets (women and men, past and present) their writing styles and content and attempt to emulate them via our own poetry as best we can. 

I find complete joy in reading our own poems out loud to the group and embracing the feedback conjured up by their fertile minds and taking away, if we desire it, their changes. We write, we learn, we respond, and we offer encouragement.

With our wedding anniversary coming up this Sunday, lifelong friendship has piqued my interest yet again in relating to decades of sharing big feelings together; appreciating individual opinions and the coziness of sharing them with one another along this amazing journey.

I dedicate this poem to my life partner and hope that others will realize that friendship can be the glue in a cohesive force that allows for controversial opinions, change, time, and understanding to shine through:

No Matter What Happens 💞

I respect that you’re going through difficult times. 

Not feeling yourself? Haven’t showered in a week? Don’t worry. 

You are appreciated for who you are. Come what may.

I want you to know that I am a safe place for you. 

So, laugh yourself silly, exaggerate the ugly cry and never

feel judged by me. I love you in every way. 

I accept and honor your controversial opinions. It doesn’t 

matter if we agree or not, I’m here for your unedited thoughts 

because we both will grow smarter, stronger. Come what may.

I understand when you let yourself be you. Be funny, be crazy, 

be loud, be obnoxious. I will love you more for the loudness 

and always cheer your enthusiasm for life. 

I want you to know that age is only a number. If we figure it out,

hold hands, walk down the same path with heads held high,

the future will be comforting. Come what may.

I keep trying to understand where you are coming from. It would be

a pleasure to have you skip, hop, and jump back into my life. Know

that I am your cheerleader—be brave. 

I want all of you to feel free to be yourselves around me. Do what you

do. Be funny, crazy, tired, loud, opinionated, talented. Luxuriate 

in all of your big feelings. Own them and never look back. 

Come what may.

Jacqueline E Hughes 9-09-24

Each stanza refers to one person or another who has entered my life, made it a little bit better, and has changed my perspective as to why I even exist. That’s definitely powerful. This poem reflects the years that flash by all of us and profusely change our lives in an instant. 

Not wanting to allow myself to change the flow of big feelings of anyone else, I insist that you, my friend, not change yourself for my sake. I encourage your boisterous laughter, opinions that don’t match my own, holding hands as we slowly walk into old age, exaggerate your ugly cry in dark times, and experience profound joy in good times.

To my dear husband of 51 years: through our many ups and downs, via joy and sadness, playfulness and laughter—please know that the bond we share together will always be strong no matter what happens, come what may.

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes 

All rights reserved

IN MY JOY

 

A series of essays….

THE EARTH’S EQUATOR IS ALIGNED DIRECTLY WITH 
THE SUN ON THE VERNAL EQUINOX

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

I am such a lucky person. I’m in my joy! Truly, I am! Nobody can take it from me. I keep telling myself this every day and it’s been well worth it. Hearing it often helps me know that it’s legitimate and that each day will hold new, interesting, and even great things for me to look forward to, contemplate and absorb. It’s all based on the natural blending of imagination and truth. Honestly, if we lose the magical touch of this powerful combination, we could be doomed as a human race and sentenced to a zombie-like existence like those being portrayed in many movies and comic books.

Last Monday afternoon we were swept-up in a whirlwind of blue milk caps, pieces of newsprint, and discarded medicine bottles (empty, of course) that were being tamed by a Lion Queen wielding a wooden chair and a bullwhip. It was explained that the reason ‘she writes’ is because her voice is not heard, and it certainly must be. A person requires two things in order to survive: harmony and buttonholes. The fact is that we, like the stars, are never, truly, finished. We can imagine through multiple scenarios the instant our parents met one another and danced together, sweet and slow. Finally, through a project that is affectionately called, Stickhenge, we learned that it’s possible to recreate Stonehenge, the only surviving lintelled stone circle in the world, with broomsticks and capture the March equinox in our own backyard using fortitude, scientific data, patience, and unequaled parts of imagination and truth. 

Interesting note: did you know that in the 1830’s until around 1850 in the United Kingdom, it was very popular to have females tame lions and tigers in a managerie or collection of captive animals for the purpose of entertainment? These ladies were known as Lion Queens.

That’s quite a bit of reassurance of our own worth and self importance tucked away in just a couple of hours on a sunny afternoon in late March! That’s what you get when eight ladies occupy their seats around a large table within a room that is part of one of the best independent bookstores I’ve ever known, Kazoo Books, located on Parkview Avenue in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Especially when, as a group, we had not met in person (only Zoom meetings) for way too many months. Believe me when I tell you that the conga line for giving and receiving hugs was joyful, and long overdue!

We are the Ladies of Voices, as I like to refer to us, or more accurately, Voices on the Margin, a poetry group that not only studies the lives of various poets near and far, but takes it one step further by writing our own poetry based upon their style and visage of life in general while giving thought toward the poet’s writing technique and/or subject matter of each work. Often our poets have engaged in other forms of writing, such as fiction or nonfiction essays and novels. Familiarizing ourselves with each individual, whether a contemporary or posthumously, female or male, encourages us to open ourselves up to ideas and challenges we may not have thought about before. 

Our inspiration for this day was the Detroit born poet and clinical psychotherapist in private practice, Ken Meisel, who is exceptionally interesting, especially among many of us who have lived, worked in, or even only visited the Detroit area. 

Initially, we cornered the market, so to speak, on women poet laureates including Carol Ann Duffy, Joy Harjo, Molly Fisk, Tracy K. Smith, and Natasha Trethewey. In the spirit of fair practice, we have studied the works of Jack Ridl, local writer, educator, and poet who has created several exceptional poetry editions that inspire us to learn more about the importance of our everyday life and then write about it—simply and honestly. 

The convenience of Zoom meetings has offered our group the ability to include local published poets and have them share their personal work, thoughts, and ideas, with us. Kathleen McGookey has published four books of prose poems and three chapbooks, most recently Instructions for My Imposter (Press 53) and Nineteen Letters(BatCat Press). She has also published We’ll See, a book of translations of French poet Georges Godeau’s prose poems. She has graced us with all of the charm and benevolence of the talented person she is by giving us an evening of talk, reading selected poems, and answering the questions of ‘would like to be published’ poets.

Because we, the Ladies of Voices, have scheduled a Zoom reading of our own poetry, soon, we have had to reach back into the archives and select five minutes worth of work to share with family and friends. In doing so, I was amazed by the many pieces I’d written and accumulated throughout the years! Many I had not read for months and it felt amazing to pull them back into the light, once again.

I am proud of all of us. We are in our joy and not a single person can take that away from us. To be a part of this group is to hold the future in our hands; sharing  with others how wonderful it is to learn and physically create entire worlds from our own imaginations, talk about them with each other, all the while educating our sensibilities via published writers who have gone through this process for years themselves.

If you haven’t already, may I suggest awakening your ‘Joy’ by joining a poetry or writing group. Maybe your thing is working with clay, dancing and singing, painting, cooking, or any other activity that makes you happy and might, just might, give you a new lease on life. Enjoy to the fullest extent whatever it is you choose to do!

Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved