Farm Friends
Mary Kellogg, Bedlam Farm Poet Laureate
I told my wife that I am falling for an older woman, and she laughed and said, “Good, I hope she likes paying for hay.”
But it’s true. Mary Kellogg came into my life in a curious way. She wrote me a typewritten letter saying that she and a small group of friends who had known one another for nearly 60 years, and who took a trip of one kind or another every year, were planning to visit my area.
Sometimes they had traveled, or gone hiking or boating, but they were growing a bit older, she said, and slowing down a tad. “We are a quiet group,” she assured me, asking if she could visit the farm. I agreed, and it was a good move.
"silence of love and knowing;
our need not speak;
eyes bond the thoughts..."
- from "Silence"
Mary, it turns out, has been writing poetry since she was 11 years old, and that was during World War II. I was struck by her strength, energy and intuitions. I loved the poems she showed me and asked if she would write one for my next book, “Dog Days.” She did, and it appears at the end, and is reproduced on her page. She also wrote one for “Soul of A Dog,” to be published in 2008.
We have gathered a number of her poems and are talking to several publishers about collecting them into a book. They are beautiful and, like her, sensitive and graceful.
Mary’s beloved husband Dick died a decade ago, but she wouldn’t dream of leaving her beautiful but isolated farmhouse. Once during a bitter winter spell, I pondered bringing food to her. I worried about her being alone on that cold and windswept hill.
But I was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was Mary, bringing me soup. “I worry about you, I know your wife is away a lot and you fall down all the time,” she said, “so I brought you some soup.”
Mary is humbling that way. I love her poetry, and am struck by the fact that she is so wonderfully at peace with herself. She exudes a warmth and grace that truly shine. If I am happy to have a Bedlam Farm shaman, I am also tickled to have a Bedlam Farm Poet Laureate. |
