Idaho Writer’s Guild April 2021 Writers Prompt Winner The young girl, with a white bow in her dark hair,…
Remembered Encounter
Picked up a random poetry book
From the crowded shelf.
Quick easy hour read:
Delight and wonder.
Then,
Found my name in the credits
“Janelle Higgs, intern”.
Oh…
Rusty memory wheels squeaking…
Fumbling backwards to a summer
So long ago the experience is cloudy
With the barrage of others stacked
As in Tetris:
one shape nestles into another
Forming a somewhat uniform block;
Time and memory rotating,
Rearranging moments strategically;
Seamless awareness.
Oh there it is…
Summer after college graduation,
Needed one more credit to be free,
To taste independence in a wide open world.
Internship for college writing program,
Amazing connections made,
Offer to take over in the fall.
Politely declined even though the work felt right:
Creatively mixing words, text types, line spaces,
Into a remarkably published book for all.
Oh what if…
What if I had chosen the internship,
Instead of the boy who stole my heart?
Could I have had both?
Why didn’t I try?
But…
“What’s done is done.”
Poetry pulls at the heartstrings,
Never to be forgotten;
Never to be ignored,
Always open to possibilities.
Thankful for now having the boy
And
Poetic possibilities.
Dust off the right-brain meanderings;
Regenerate the possibilities:
Carefully chosen word combinations
Backed with a heartfelt life history.
Nice! I had forgotten about your internship. You still have a wonderful way with words and poetry!
Beautiful free verse. Your words are powerful. It brings to mind your graduation speech at church, too.
Thank you so much!