It is a special
honor for me to share poetry from three talented women spanning three generations. Nila is a light in the world, sharing free
books with children, being an advocate for compassionate patient care, and
encouraging others in various ways. It
is through her generosity that we have her mother, jani johe webster’s and her
grandmother, Virginia Johe’s poetry to share with readers at Whispers. Thank
you, Nila!
Sincerely,
Karen O’Leary—Whispers’
Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
from The Gift of You, The Gift of Me
By
Nila Webster
Thank
you for
The
color of joy
And
the shape of love
For
the shadows as dusk
For
the mourning dove
Who
coos in hours of gray
When
life is sad
And
we've lost our way
Thank
you for life
And
death
And
life again
For
the seed of hope
Born
of each sad end
______________
This
excerpt is from Nila J. Webster's picture book The Gift of You, The Gift of
Me. She wrote the book in one sitting as a response in an incident of
bullying, with the hope that honoring the beauty in nature, and in ourselves,
will create a beautiful space where bullying will dissolve and be replaced by love
and acceptance. Nila has donated 100,000
books to children in her mother’s honor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
sometimes
By
jani johe webster--(In Memory-May 2013)
did
you think sometimes
you
were something else
like
a mocking bird
or
a weeping willow
did
you walk sometimes
going
backwards
or
light candles
in
the middle of the day
let's
go then
where
no ship has ever sailed
and
spend our lives with falling stars
until
we can spend
no
more
______________
Thoughts
from her daughter, Nila Webster--From her, I learned that in poetry, all things
are possible: the moon "whispers silver secrets," tree roots gives us
"wisdom," and, as she wrote in pure Zen-like fashion: "it is a
gift / this day." She taught me to see poetry in every corner of the
universe and my life, and even now that she is no longer physically present on
this earth, I hear her whisperings of wonder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We
Wonder
By
Virginia Johe (In Memory-1911-2011)
What color is the rain
as it taps on our windowpane?
What color is a breeze
as it hides in the trees?
We wonder
what color is the air,
its fragrance sweet and rare?
What color is the sky --
gray, blue, white or pink
as it darkens into night?
We wonder ...
______________
Virginia
Johe (1911-2011) began to write poetry after she lost her beloved husband of
over fifty years. She did this with the encouragement of her daughter,
Rochester poet jani johe webster. jani, who is my mother, and who taught me the
magic of creative writing, saw this great grief consuming her mother's life,
and bought my grandmother Virginia an electric typewriter. Virginia set up a
work area and began to type out her grief in the form of poetry. With jani's
help, she submitted poetry to print journals for many years. This poem was
written shortly after her husband's death, in 1980.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
