March 5, 2015

Max’s Musings

Moleston-Head-colorBy Max Molleston

Last mention, last month was to refresh our memories of a great volunteer, and fine poet. A big challenge when originating this monthly column from Coralville, I miss things I should not. By that I mean, in particular those who I knew over 40 years in the Quad-Cities who have died. Many gone now were more than just acquaintances I met in the broadcast business, but people I knew well, and enjoyed.

One woman came to my attention through the quarterly bulletin of the Iowa Poetry Association. She was one of three in the memoriam notices. Her name was Carole O’Banion. Carole was one of a few interested literary folks in the QCs who liked poetry so much, she helped found the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest. I mentioned the nationwide contest many times in the first years I wrote this column. It is now in its 40th year, and since 2000 or so, has been under the literary umbrella of the Midwest Writing Center, for the last several years in Davenport. Back in the early 1970s, this group which included O’Banion, developed the concept of the contest, and pushed its message throughout the United States. After some eight years on the committee that managed it and selected those who were winners, and honorable mention contestants, I was handed the helm. I made sure as many of the founders as I could got recognition.

On the 30th Anniversary, I contacted O’Banion, to see how she felt about being singled out at our Awards Night. She accepted and was roundly praised and seated in front of the audience. Graciously, she returned  the favor in a note to this writer, for the contest and what it has meant to her. Her death came on June 24, 2014. I save my column submissions and am writing from the January issue from  2007  of the  50+Lifestyles Quad Cities  edition. I  wrote  about two Quad-City women, well  known  for their poetry  and the books of poetry they had just published. Carole O’Banion’s latest was titled Sifting for Sunlight, priced at $8.  The poem and its situations I featured in 2007 are  familiar to most of us growing up. It is rich in sentiment and reality.

The Magic of Kitchen Tables
Seasons come, go in and out
A swish of linen and vases sprout
Stainless shines, music plays,
Aromas of roast and coffee trays.
People  gather, friends  are  famished,
Dishes  clatter, meals have vanished.
Out  come  the  games, the cards arranged,
Crayons and  art. Soon kids are changed—
It’s a special  dress  for birthday candles,
Wedding  vails or summer sandals.
Tears appear and come to stay—
The ghosts are here  from yesterday—
Memories and snapshots with labels
Rise like magic from kitchen tables.

As well as poetry, Carole included some of her artwork. If  you have  read  or imagined poetry  that  rhymes  is easier than some other form, you need to work through Carole’s The Magic of Kitchen Tables a few more times. Rhyme that fits into a scheme the poet hopes will develop, comes from a search of the poets memory, and at last end, some source in some book, maybe even a dictionary.  Poets who have been at the craft (it’s an art) for a few years are aware  of  the sentiment they want and the words that fit.

Sometimes it resembles a hunting trip.  Among other poems  Carole  composed  is one on the 1993 floods, and particularly  the high water on the Mississippi and  the flow added by its tributaries. I am not the best keeper of  poems, and had it, then”misplaced” it. Does that happen to anyone else? You may be able to tell, Carole  O’Banion was a delightful person and her poems included some of the same  reality we read and can hear in Kitchen Tables. Our kitchen in our Coralville Condo contains what decorators call an island.

It is not the kitchen table we still have (in the lower level), but with high stools and elbows it seems to suit folks sitting at it from our grandchildren and their grandparents, to include more friends who huddle there for a drink, a popsicle, or just to organize some papers on its lengthy surface. We are at an end about kitchen tables for the time  being, but do launch into conversion of sorts next month.  A recipe becomes a poem. Much  fun to pursue, so it should be a delight for you.

Filed Under: Humor

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