Wednesday, February 27, 2013

IGWRT's Kerry's Wednesday Challenge - Open Letters "Dear Petoskey"


Dear Petoskey,

Lapis, emerald,
and Queen Anne's Lace,
ornamentals
I carefully tuck away
each time we depart
your four square miles.
Quaint and charming
quiver in rearview mirror
as southbound we travel.

Quite different our arrival,
six youthful heads
shout, "We're home!"
It's all I can do
not to crawl back inside
your protective cocoon,
wings forever clipped.

Small is often ridiculed,
considered inadequate,
but often a gem is prized
for memories held.
You're our dear treasure,
a small town
we'll always call home.

Love,

the Bednar's


This is for Kerry's Wednesday Challenge - Open Letters.  Petoskey, Michigan is where we lived for over seven years and leaving was the hardest thing I have ever done.  We try and return every summer.


18 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

a huge 'awwww'...

Marian said...

It looks fantastic and I can feel your emotion brimming over in these lines. Thank you for sharing.

Helen said...

There is always one place ... one place that stands out from all the rest. Lovely words.

Fireblossom said...

I especially love that next to last stanza. I love Petosky, and have my own happy memories of visits there. My son lived there for a while, too. Don't forget to find a Petosky stone!

Sherry Blue Sky said...

Oh I know the sorrow of leaving a beloved place! Love the photos........I can see why you so hated to leave.

Ella said...

I love your poem! It is enchanting and that way I feel about my home by the sea!
Wonderful :D

Janine Bollée said...

How charming: an open letter to a township.
They ought to post that in their local newspaper.

Kerry O'Connor said...

Wonderful to read an open letter written with love and appreciation. It is hard to dig up roots and begin again somewhere new.

Susan said...

An appropriate tribute to a birthplace! Sweetness and infinite return. Are you going to send it out as per the challenge? That's what is holding me up . . . About a yeear ago, the challenge was to write a poem to hang on a wall, and my poem is still there!

Margaret said...

...was the challenge to truly send it out? It is "out" on the internet... ha. I'd be embarrassed "they" in the hometown would say "ha, Margaret thinks she is a poet"... ;P

hedgewitch said...

The home of one's heart never fades, though it often may get further away in the day to day--it's still somehow vivid in the memory because of the feelings it evoked, and continues to. Lovely words and photos of a beautiful place, Margaret. There's no blue like Great Lakes blue.

Hannah said...

The accurateness of the quivering glimpse in the rear-view mirror captured me, Margaret...the feeling of letting go the place that holds your heart.

Great write!

G-Man said...

I bet you DO own a Petosky Stone.
If you don't let me know Please.
I'll send you a pretty one!!
Petosky is one of Michigan's beautiful pieces of Heaven, I know how you feel.

Maude Lynn said...

This is so sweet!

Mystic_Mom said...

I love this. Sweetly done.

Susie Clevenger said...

So beautiful...I can feel how hard it was to leave...I live in Houston and I yearn for smaller and quieter.

UIFPW08 said...

Very lovely shots
Morris

Ginnie Hart said...

I have no memories of Petoskey, Margaret, even though I grew up a Michigander. Maybe I was there once but I have no recollection of it. You have totally made me want to visit it...one of these days/years, when Astrid and I go to spend time in Michigan, rummaging around to see what we can see! :)