When we were packing up your house We found letters from your lover. It was unclear if she was your first girlfriend, But she was the first one our mother had met. At the time, Mom referred to her as your friend And we didn’t know any differently. In the letters, it was clear from the comments That you’d already broken up, but no mention of why or when. They were written in blue ink pen in lovely handwriting on crinkly onion skin paper, and she thanked you for the checks you sent to help her pay the rent, To help support her writing, for your continued faith in her talent. You lived across the country, your life hidden from view. As we went through your messy closets and drawers It felt invasive to read the letters and cards, To look at the photos of a life we didn’t really know. But you’d left it all to us. Maybe it was your way of letting us see all of you, Of letting us see the parts you had to hide. And at your memorial service, so many women appeared, Poets and artists and writers and actors, or just friends Telling us how you’d been the one to encourage them, That you’d been the one to lift their voices. I wasn’t surprised. You’d done the same for me.
I’m proud to be part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Please consider reading and supporting their work.
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Nik Heftman, The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla
Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains, Washington, D.C.
Macey Spensley, The Midwest Creative, Davenport and Des Moines
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
The Iowa Writers Collaborative is also proud to have an alliance with Iowa Capital Dispatch.
I'm moved by this glimpse of a soul here that I never knew and never will, and yet I do. Very tender and lovely.
Lovely remembrance.