My heart is with the people who live in the path of Hurricane Helene, especially those living in and around the community of Asheville, NC.
Tom and I were enroute for a weeklong cycling ride through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Originally planned and then cancelled due to Covid (2020), we were excited to resurrect our trip this year. Mother Nature had other ideas though. Losing a bike trip is nothing compared to the losses that are unfolding in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.
We had already planned to spend the week prior to the ride in the South. We are in the middle of what I call our “Southern Civil Rights Road Trip.” Little Rock to Memphis to Birmingham-Montgomery-Selma to Atlanta.
I penned this draft after a day and a half exploring Memphis.
Memphis 2024
white, suburban woman stands in the middle
of neon-lit Beale Street –a garish, painted lady
cracked façade, heartache of bygone time
begs passers-by in strains of soul and blue-notes
come in! re-live with me my glory days
did we not stand defiant in our joy?
farm families, countryside cotton wait on
lay-by seasons, free to believe –for a month,
weeks– music might relieve the burden
guitar and fiddle and washboard rhythm
mix and mingle, hardship and longing
rising from black and white porches
lo, music unknows narrow color lines
joy shared is shared joy, King’s dream
borne from sharecroppers’ hearts: let freedom sing
©draft, PJF
October 1, 2024
Beale Street, Memphis, TN
National Civil Rights Museum, Lorraine Motel
Memphis, TN
BOOK BIRTHDAY for CLARA!
I’m thrilled to hear and share that POMELO BOOKS’ latest anthology is in the world! So many incredibly talented poets –many, like me, who have been nurtured by Sylvia Vardelll and Janet Wong, along with this incredible Poetry Friday communiity!
Stay tuned! There will be many blog posts forthcoming to celebrate the kooky, quirky, fun-filled tome of funny poems!
Till then, consider an early holiday gift for a favorite teacher or student! Click here to purchase a copy!
Patricia Franz writes picture books and poetry. She believes children, dogs, and sourdough have a lot to teach us about life, joy, and wonder. She has raised two boys, four dogs, and holds a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on children’s spirituality. Patricia, her husband, her Bernese Mountain dog, Bonny, and her sourdough starter split their time between the Arizona desert and the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
I’ve been waiting for this! I like the metaphor of Beale street as a garish lady calling the white woman. (Do you feel your whiteness as you visit these places?) And I love the “washboard rhythm” and “music unknows narrow color lines” that pushes against the tension of race. Well done.
Patricia, your poem brings me back to the NCTE’s convention in Atlanta. A friend and I took time from the convention to tour MLK’s museum, the church, and home. All was directed by an amazing friend of King, one of his teen workers during the march to freedom. LET Freedom Sing! Thank you for sharing Memphis through photographs and your poem. “Heartache of bygone time” is a great line to remind us of MLK and the 60s. Refining this draft will be a tribute to that time period when MLK walked the streets.
Lovely poem, Patricia. I especially like the last stanza. I remember visiting the Civil Rights Museum in the Lorraine Motel a few years back and how moved I was to be in that space and remember.
Patricia, what an experience. Your poem and photos are helpful to learn more about this history. I feel you have captured some of the “hardship and longing” in your poem. I’m sorry your bike trip had to be cancelled, but glad you got to do this tour. I would like to visit these places someday. I echo your concern for the “losses that are unfolding in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.” Peace, comfort and rescue for all of them.
I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of our anthology! And I’ve been wanting to go to the Civil Rights trail for many years. One day! I love that “washboard rhythm.” Nicely done!
Congratulations for your poem page in the new anthology, Patricia. It really sounds like a book for so many! As for the poem, you’ve found the music of the time, and I enjoy the way the poem seems to be a person sitting on a bench, telling a story. It all comes back to me. I’ve been there, but it’s been a few years. With “mix and mingle, hardship and longing”, I see that not a lot has changed.
Love the vivid sensory details in your poem, the white woman metaphor, feeling of times gone by but worth remembering. Congrats on being included in the new anthology!
Hooray for Clara! I’m delighted to see this book make it’s way into the world. And, I’m sorry about your bike trip. You’ll get there eventually. What a great poem you’ve got here. “music might relieve the burden.” Yes, please…especially music in Memphis.
I enjoyed reading about the musical mix of joy and heartache you found in Memphis. Maybe there will be more poems sprouting from your trip? Congrats on Clara’s compendium!
Wow, Patricia, the details in your poem are fabulous! You inhale experiences and exhale poems.❤️
Sitting here with wet eyes because your beautiful poem prompted me to jump over to the museum’s website and do a bit of a virtual tour. xo
I was out of town last week so I’m late in commenting on this.
Love the vivid details of your poem, Patricia, especially this stanza, with the near rhyme of fiddle and mingle:
guitar and fiddle and washboard rhythm
mix and mingle, hardship and longing
rising from black and white porches
And I can’t wait to get my hands on Clara’s Compendium and read your poem and everyone else’s!