Legends & Landmarks: Remembering

By Lorraine P. Decker

LONG SUMMARY


My book titles LEGENDS AND LANDMARKS is a collection of original poetry about hills and valleys of my life. Like Pollack painted with his own brush, I write with my own mind.

I preserve memories by writing my feelings at therir most intense moments. This collection is a mirror in which I see what has made me who I am.

I choose to write in the propreaceptive method; literally writing whatever my mind is telling me at any particular moment. If awakened groggy with sleep, I take pen in hand write. Not thinking, I hear my mind speak. Whatever thoughts go through the muddled mind, come our in words that may make sense only to the writer or one who has felt the same tremors. They surprise me with theire message, and I learn one more thing about myself. My mind tells me how different and unique I am, and I find my destination where beauty lives.

My book, spanning sixty years of poetic expression in which I keep the past alive covers a lifetime of living.

Many of my poem relate to my Mother, who died at a young age but left me many memories. MASQUERADE was my first venture into my feelings about my Mother. THE DOVE followed, remembering her love of the song, and playing it on the piano. Leaving me with a sadness of loss, I learned much about her. When I wrote WISHING, I could feel her presence. I realized that I feel great loss for friends, come who were schoolmates. I expressed this in REUNION. It was difficult to write, as sadness overwhelming me.

I was happy to write a birthday poem to a very dear friend who had been a role model for me. I titled it MARYS BIRTHDAY. The pleasure it brought her was a joy to see. She framed the porm, and it remains a favorite of hers. I wrote WINTER DAY, in appreciation for the beautiful morning-into night. As an did not appreciate the beauty of winter as I had in Florida, which is where I was when I wrote WINTER DAY.

There are many poems about my love of the sea and the sun. MY FRIEND THE SUN is a description of what the sun does for me.

SUNRISE is a favorite poem of mine, as is MY SONG. Both were written while enjoying a vacation at the beacj, one of mu favorite places to be. I AM AT HOME is an account of how I felt while enjoying the surf, playing. In writing PROPHESY, I use the action of the tides to describe how I feel about life in general.

There are a few philosophical poems about life as I felt at times, and GRATITUDE was evident for many conditions, including unrequited love.

My love of flowers, birds and butterflies is shown in several waus. FLOWERS ON THE WALL is a whimsical description of the uses of my garden, as is MAYFLOWER, a tribute to my aloe cactus.
SUBTERFUGE is a saturnine dream. I woke to see that I had written a message so unlike me, it would take some untangling to find just what it was all about. I have come to the conclusion it was to show me just how upside-down I can be, unpredictable and how both loved and hated I am, but its alright, its my world.

My love for my husband is shown by my worlds in WHEN YOU ARE AWAY. I wrote it while waiting for his return from work out of town. Again, much later, when he became ill and died, I was in such agony that I could not retire to bed for sleep without writing my love for him, and my awareness of his strength even in death. It took me two years to be able to write CLOSURE. I had to let him go, and go on with my life. I am glad I had written YOUR LOVE, earlier in our lives.

Having been a widow for three years, I learned I could love once again. A FRACTURED WORLD was the beginning of a new start in life. OPEN LETTER TO MU VALENTINE was written on Valentines Day and read at a meeting of the POETRY WORKSHOP.

A TIME OF WAR is a nostalgic remembrance of the U.S. Infantry maneuvers, which were enacted close to where I lived at the time, in 1943. this was published in FLORIDA POETS SOCIETY ANTHOLOGY in 2002. included in this publication was EPILOGUE, a poem of joy at having overcom

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 9, 2005
• ISBN: 9781469107653

Lorraine P. Decker

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Being born in Southern California, much of my early childhood was spent enjoying the beach. I acquired a love of the sea, sand and sun. Therefore, my love of Florida where I now live and write. My writing, being authentic, constitutes a diary of my feelings concerning happenings, wishes, hopes and joys. It is how I know who I am and how I arrived at this point in life.

Book preview

LEGENDS

&

LANDMARKS

Remembering

Lorraine Presley Decker

Copyright © 2005 by Lorraine Presley Decker.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Compiled and Published in the year 2005

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

26508

Contents

LEGENDS AND LANDMARKS

SUMMARY

ANGER

COMFORT

CLASS REUNION

CAMERAS

EPILOGUE

ECHO

GRATITUDE

HOPE

I AM AT HOME

I AM A GARDENER

LET ME CRY

LOST

MY SONG

MIDNIGHT HOUR

MASQUERADE

MY FOREVER

ON THE BALCONY

ONCE UPON A TIME

PROPHESY

PANIC

REFLECTIONS

RAGE

SUNRISE

SEARCHING

THIS I KNOW

VALENTINE’S DAY

THE MALL WALKERS

TRUST

THE LIVING DEAD

THE DOVE

THINKING OF YOU

WINTER DAY IN RICHMOND

WHAT AM I

WHEN YOU ARE AWAY

WINTER DAY

WISHING

A VASE OF DAISIES

HAPPY FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY

JUSTICE

IT’S A VERY GOOD YEAR

SANCTUARY

FIRST LOVE

YOUR LOVE

IN RETROSPECT

MARY’S BIRTHDAY

OUR LAST GOODBYE

THE PERFECT DANCE

REVERIE

LIFE

HOLDING ON

CLOSURE

SHADOW

THE GIFTS THAT GOD HAS MADE

ODE TO DISCARDED TIME… SPACE ROCKET 1963

MY PLEA

MAYFLOWER

SUBTERFUGE

SPEAK GENTLY

INNER LIGHT… . EARLY AUTUMN

MOTHER LOVE

VALUE

EXODUS

EARLY AUTUMN

VALIENT ANIMALS

LET ME CRY

MY FRIEND THE SUN

REPLETE

WHO DO I BELONG TO

STRESS

FLOWERS ON THE WALL

POETRY WORKSHOP

STREET PEOPLE

A TIME OF WAR

SLEEP PATTERN

IN THE ATRIUM

MY LOVE AND ME

MY GIFT TO YOU

OPEN LETTER TO MY VALENTINE

QUESTIONING DESPAIR

OCTOBER

SPRING

A LONELY SHELL

BIOGRAPHY

LEGENDS AND LANDMARKS

A collection of original poetry about the

hills and valleys of my life, 1950-2004

I preserve my memories by writing my feelings

at their most intense moments.

This collection is a mirror in which I see

what has made me who I am.

Lorraine Presley Decker

SUMMARY

LEGENDS AND LANDMARKS

My book titled LEGENDS AND LANDMARKS is a collection of original poetry about hills and valleys of my life. Like Pollack painted with his own brush, I write with my own mind.

I preserve memories by writing my feelings at their most intense moments. This collection is a mirror in which I see what has made me who I am.

I choose to write in the propreaceptive method; literally writing whatever my mind is telling me at any particular moment. If awakened groggy with sleep, I take pen in hand and write. Not thinking, I hear my mind speak. Whatever thoughts go through the muddled mind, come out in words that may make sense only to the writer or one who has felt the same tremors. They surprise me with their message, and I learn one more thing about myself. My mind tells me how different and unique I am, and