Poetic Bloomings Tribute

Betty Slade

My first twenty years writing,

I avoided poetry like poison ivy.

Most poems I read, I had no idea

what the poet was writing about.

I wanted my writing to be understood,

not some mysterious code. But sometimes

unsolicited poems popped out.

I shoved them in an envelope marked,

Poems: finished and unfinished.

One day at an artists and writers retreat,

the director, Betty Slade, asked me to read.

Working on a novel at the time,

I read a couple of my poems,

since they were short. The attendees’

enthusiastic response surprised me.

Betty told me I should put my poems in a book.

So I took out the big old envelope

and finished and revised them.

From that experience, I learned

how to write poetry without waiting

for them to materialize from strong emotion.

Betty lit the match causing a poetic explosion.