This is Michael Carey for Voices from the Prairie a weekly sampling from the rich soil of Iowa’s literary tradition. Today’s poem is "Where We’ll Meet" by Elaine Erickson of Urbandale. It is an elegy for a relative or a dear friend. It is sad yet at the same time comforting. It exudes a comfort that only a relationship full of love can give. This poem is for anyone suffering from grief or who has lost anyone or anything dear to them.
in memory of Joshua, November 18, 2000
It’s not in your room
where we’ll meet, where
my headaches once vanished
like white wings of fog.
It’s not in the Deli
where we ate – the hanging plant
we kept alive with love
still there, the same people
we never knew.
It’s not in my room,
where the maid with her cleaning cloth
tries to wipe away every
reminder of grief. We’ll meet
in a dream – you wearing
your yellow-striped shirt,
standing at the foot of the steps
in a stairwell of tears.
When our eyes meet
the ground beneath us
will disappear and you will say,
"It’s all right, it’s all right,"
as you gather
the sun out of the water.
"Where We’ll Meet" by Elaine Erickson. This reading was its first publication.
For Voices from the Prairie and Humanities Iowa, this is Michael Carey hoping you continue to hear the music blooming all around you.
Biography
Elaine Erickson was born in Des Moines and has a Bachelor of Music in Piano performance from Wheaton College and a Master of Music degree in Music Composition from Drake University. She has won numerous awards, fellowships and residencies from the Ford Foundation, Meet the Composer, the Charles Ives Center, the National League of American Pen Women, and the Pyle Commission Award from the Iowa Composers forum. She has composed 4 operas, 3 of which were performed at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. Her poetry has been published in Midwest Poetry Review, Briar Cliff Review, Opus Literary Review, Poetic Rage, Maryland Poetry Review as well as various other literary magazines. Her four books of poetry are published by Chestnut Hills Press of Baltimore.