Dear Dispatches from the Heartland Readers: This poem was inspired by my beloved late grandmother, who I think about almost every day. Over this holiday season, perhaps you have also been thinking of people who have meant a great deal to you. As you look to the new year, I hope you find comfort in their memories and are inspired by their love. I thank you for your continued readership and encouragement of my writing. I wish you much peace and happiness in 2023. - Suzanna
Am canning pickles as I write
Am canning pickles as I write
Means I love you
A card from my grandmother
In graceful cursive
Slanting to the right
Offers details of the day
Family news
The corn is tall
Tomatoes abundant
Zinnias especially beautiful
County fair starting soon
Cousins showing hogs
Am baking cookies as I write
Means I love you
A note from my grandmother
On a page torn from a random pad
In graceful cursive
Slanting to the right
A schoolteacher’s handwriting
Sugar cookies, Joe’s favorite
Goes without saying
News of aunts and uncles
Preparations for harvest
Combines in the field
A new priest in the parish
Am putting up jelly as I write
Means I love you
A letter from my grandmother
On the thinnest paper
Crinkling slightly in my hands
Lines of graceful cursive
Slanting to the right
Raspberry today
Looks like rain
Crocheting some cushions
News of the neighborhood
A wedding, a baby
A funeral
The page is filled with hieroglyphics
The words do not really matter
There will never be an outpouring
Of emotion
Or deep secrets
Or probing inquiries
She is mailing
A message in a bottle
The smell
Of her kitchen
Floats from the fold
She is sending a snapshot
Of her short stout form
In front of the stove
Her small sturdy hands
In constant motion
I am canning
I am stirring
I am baking
I am writing
Means I love you.
I’m honored to be a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, and am grateful that the Iowa Capital Dispatch publishes some of our work.
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists
1. Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
2. Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
3. Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
4. Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
5. Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
6. Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
7. Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
8. Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
9. Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
10. Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla
11. Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines
12. Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
13. Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
14. Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
15. Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
16. Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
17. John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
18. Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
19. Barry Piatt: Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
20. Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
21. Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
22. Mary Swander: Emerging Voices, Kalona
23. Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
24. Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
25. Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
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Am canning pickles as I write
Thank you so much. I have been writing things from my past for our daughter. My Grandmother was so important to me and my life. She did many of the things you mention in the poem. I loved the poem. It made me smile. Thank you, Sharon Goldford