Miscellaneous

Wonder

When you were a young girl,

At an unripe age,

Wind swept across your face

Blowing dirt onto your corduroys and

Littering your soil

With weeds.

 

Winnipeg. A farm.

A family.

 

That was your life,

Weeding the garden and

Wondering what the world was like.

 

You would sit by the fire,

Asking your papa,

“What’s it like out there?”

Never really getting an answer,

You would sit quietly –

Like you always did –

Staring out the window.

 

Staring out the window was your pastime,

Your escape,

A way for you to imagine

The life you would have had

If you were just a boy.

 

If you were a boy,

You would be able to ride the horses –

Not just hoe the garden.

 

Once again,

Sitting by the fire,

You ask your papa,

“What’s it like out there?”

 

Once again,

You get no answer –

you wonder.

 

So you wait,

And you pull the weeds in the garden.

Waiting for the answer to…

 

“What’s it like out there?”

With the overflowing garden full

Of moonlit flowers and wonder?


The above is a poem written for the beloved Connie S, who resides at the Bow View Manor residents home. I was gracefully given an hour to interview Connie for my Creative Writing class, which resulted in this poem! During the interview, Connie spoke heartedly about her time spent growing up on a farm in Winnipeg. However, she also spoke of how being a woman impacted her life growing up. Specifically, about how she felt discriminated against because her work wasn’t as valued as her brothers’. Growing up in a time repressed for something you have no control over must have been frustrating. I wrote this poem for Connie as a way to take her life and her struggles and twist them into a light that seemed hopeful and wonderous. 

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