Lillie D. Chaffin was born February 1, 1925 to Kenis and Fairybelle Dorton at Varney, Kentucky. Growing up during the Depression, at a time when most children did not attend first grade until the age of six, if at all, Lillie insisted on starting at age four.
~Gayle Compton
Happy Poetry Friday, y'all! Appalachian poet Lillie Chaffin sounds like a real firecracker. You can read more about her and more of her poems here.
Old-Timer to Grandchild
by Lillie D. Chaffin
And so our kinfolks let themselves
be sweet-talked into believing
that things would be the same.
They let some Philadelphia lawyers
tell them they could sell the yoke
and keep the egg, and with that few cents
they built a room onto the house
or somesuch. And now the yoke owners
are claiming their gold, and squashing
the shell and letting it fall howsumever
it falls. Let folks talk about our
backward ways. I like it. If forward's
what's been coming in right here lately,
I'd go into backup if I could. Back up
to the little creeks with fish in them,
the trees with birds, the caves
with animals, the air clean and smelling
of hay and apples. If forward's now,
then I feel sorrow for the ones who'll
never know. But you will remember
a little bit. You tell them birds
do fly low before a storm.
From Mucked 1977
*************
A(nother) Year of Reading has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Mary Lee!
12 comments:
What a wonderful voice. This is how I heard stories a long time ago.
Such a wonderful way with words.
I've got a Brigid's cross! A gift from my sister when she visited Ireland. (something on my bucket list for this year...) Another gift, Chaffin's poem. Be careful of that "swee-talking"...
A poignant message, Tabatha: "If forward's now,/then I feel sorrow for the ones who'll/never know." I remember sitting on my grandpa's back porch, watching the weather & he often reminded me to watch the birds, see what they're doing. Thanks for sharing this poet, will look for more!
Thank you for introducing me to a new poet. I love the last lines of this poem - how, after expressing something more abstract about feelings and sorrow, she links that back to the vivid images of nature that preceded it.
Thank you for the introduction to a new poet, Tabatha.
I feel that same sorrow, Lillie. Yes, I do.
Oh, Tabatha, she is a firecracker. I enjoyed reading about her, and I had to smile when I learned her parents' names: Kenis and Fairybelle. Wisdom and poetry belong to both Brigid and Lillie.
Oh that voice - and that portentous last line: You tell them birds
do fly low before a storm. Thank you for sharing.
Oh I could sit in wonder at the foot of this ol' timer. Thanks, Tabatha!
This is wonderful! I love "If forward's
what's been coming in right here lately,
I'd go into backup if I could." and that final line, too! Thanks for yet another introduction, Tabatha!
Yes, let's go into Backup mode–sounds like good breathing there. Thanks for Chaffin's poem and the background link on her too Tabatha!
Post a Comment