GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby

The poem “A MAGICAL MOMENT IN TIME,” was written originally for a local contest in Lakewood, California. When sharing this later with her Round Robin poet friends in 1990, she included this notation: Here’s my Also Ran (Pan-American [Festival] Contest). One of the judges wrote a little note on it. Said ‘I wanted this to go on longer.’ Of course, I was trying to suggest the fleeting quality of this “moment in time” but guess it didn’t come across. It is included this week for Cinco de Mayo.

REFRACTIONS—a poem by Robert Roxby

“DRAGON” is included this week for May 11, National Train Day. The poem likely describes a time in the poet’s youth when his coal miner family lived beside or near a railroad track. The poem was included in his anthology, Reflections of a Lifetime.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby

“JEWISH DANES RETURN HOME, 1945” is included this week for May 5, Denmark Liberation Day. The author was inspired to write this poem after viewing a documentary of how the Danes struggled to keep their Jewish population safe from their Nazi invaders. Having at last failed to keep all safe, they beleaguered the Nazi regime throughout the war with communications that said the people of Denmark were holding the Nazis responsible for the well-being of the Jews while they had them in out of country confinement.

 

 

 

GLASS RAIN – poetry by Margaret Roxby

“SAIL POEM EXPERIMENTS,” are exactly what the title implies, the author’s attempt to compose a poem in the shape of a sail. This exercise was likely in response to a prompt at a meeting of her local chapter of Round Robin poets. Poet’s comments: The “sail” form, very interesting. I did not understand, at first, that every space counted for one count and even punctuation. Then on her first effort: lines 4,6,7,9, 10 each one apace too much, I realize. And about the second she said: line 6 has a space and counts one too many.

REFRACTIONS – poetry by Robert Roxby

“WARM BREAD” describes a true moment in the poet’s love life. The poem also appears in his collection Reflections on a Lifetime.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS – poetry by Kathleen Roxby

“ONLY PETTY THEFT,” describes an incident which happened to the author while a student in college. The amount stolen was equal to her enrollment fee for the coming semester, forty dollars (tuition for the institution at the time was subsidized by the State of California). Her purse was eventually found, minus the tuition. Backstory: this was not the first time her purse/money had gone missing. She had a long history going back to elementary school, a fact which added to her distress at having to admit to once more losing the money her parents had provided.

GLASS RAIN – poetry by Margaret Roxby

“THE YOUNG POET” was found among the poet’s papers. This piece may have been inspired by the author’s wide reading of poetry publications, or from joining her daughter’s poet friends in their own poetry-sharing group.

REFRACTIONS – an anecdote from Kathleen Roxby

“HELP YOUR SISTER” relates a true story told to the author by her mother to illustrate not all men treated females as second-class citizens even before they received the right to vote in the US. The author, still required to wear dresses or skirt combos, not jeans or shorts, to school at the time of hearing the story, thought her grandfather was a marvel.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS – poetry by Kathleen Roxby

“THE SILENT POET,” written by the author after a discussion with her mother concerning someone they knew on the occasion of his death.

GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby

“BEGINNING” is included this week for National I Am In Control Day, March 30.

The poet sent this poem to her Round Robin poet friends with the following note:

Note to Round Robin: “A long one, and “heavy”–? But, this is all I have at present.”

REFRACTIONS—a poem by Robert Roxby

“HORN OF AFRICA” is included this week as a nod to March 25, United Nations Slavery Remembrance Day, though the author did not have slavery in mind when he wrote this poem. Rather he wrote in reaction to race-related violence in South Africa. The poem first appeared in his collected poems, Reflections on a Lifetime.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby

“SAY NO” is included this week for National I Am In Control Day, March 30.

#unitednationsslaveryremembranceday

#nationaliamincontrolday

 

 

 

 

GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby

“BEYOND THE REACH OF THE SUN” is included this week for Everything You Think Is Wrong Day, March 15. The author was fascinated by the old tales of the city of Atlantis and eagerly welcomed reports of others who chose to search for the remains of this storied place.

REFRACTIONS—a poem by Robert Roxby

“RIVER OF DREAMS” is included this week for World International Day of Action for Rivers, March 14. The poem first appeared in the author’s collection Reflections on a Lifetime. The river he describes may have been the Monongahela, Allegheny or Ohio all of which, interesting enough relevant to March 14, have problems with pollution dues to industry. Once lauded in poetry and song as the beautiful blue Ohio, turned the river into a churning brown carrying wastes and poisons downstream.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby

“A PHOENIX IN THE GARDEN” is included this week for March 12, National Plant a Wildflower day. The author transplanted a wildflower plucked from a trail beside the creek near her home to plant in her garden. This poem describes how it fared.

#nationalplantawildflowerday

#everythingyouthinkiswrongday

#worldinternationaldayofactionforriversday