Flashbacks: A Collection of Poems

By Patsy Kennedy Lain

Enjoy a collection of poetry about simple life being born as third child, the baby and only girl of three. A southern daughter to a father, son of a farmer/painter and a mother who was the daughter of a hardworking female sharecropper. These poems only touch a little of their lives but entertain all the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665554480

Patsy Kennedy Lain

Patsy Kennedy Lain, born 1951 in Eastern North Carolina, published her first poetry collection, BACKROADS, in 2021. She has published poems in over forty Old Mountain Press anthologies, magazines and journals with short stories in a local paper and anthology. Her mother was the lightning bolt and goodness behind her hardworking father. Both parents were born, raised in Duplin County and grew up during the “great depression”. They became productive working hard, shared small fortunes with many. Neither finished school, but lack of education never deterred their success; owning and operating several small businesses throughout their lives. Their accomplishments and good characters impacted life. Patsy dedicates writing and creative abilities to her mother’s unknown desire to write, chronicling events on small paper pieces, napkins and inside book fronts. As a young woman, Patsy’s desire to write blossomed in poetry, dwindled through survival, and while raising a child. Now older, her dream and passion continues, grows like water rushing downhill. Her eyes see the world differently than most and her philosophy beckons that difference in all her creative works. Family, friends, love and living continually inspire her.

Book preview

Pen Fire

Middle brother, Mickie,

lit corner flame inside

her store placed playpen,

created warmth to help

ease surrounding cold.

Luckily, Mama quickly

smothered fire,

never punished him,

only explained burning

danger for his baby sister.

Both brothers, Tommie,

Mickie, always watched

over Shug, continue

today despite both resting

on a different plane.

Scaredy Cat

Bedtime, Mama lighted a lamp

holding large, colored Christmas

bulbs, different hued, set

aglow to help baby girl

be fearless in night blackness.

Sandy blonde haired Shug

lingered in shadows, snooped

crossways, wide eyed, listened,

Daddy snored, signaled a chance

to slip from bed, creep silently.

Dressed in a floor length white

t-shirt-like cotton gown little feet

pitter-pattered down a dark hallway,

she slithered in-between two

brothers, slept safe.

Sardines & Kittens

She remembered

begging for sardines

every day to no avail,

Mama fed stray cats

placing cans at side screen

door of family restaurant;

Shug squatted beside kittens,

munched sardines,

finally won a fishy treat

she strangely never

touches tiny canned

fish today.

Don’t Eat ’Em

Mama told us not never munch

small pokeberries, pretty deep

fuchsia red colored clusters

atop large wild weeds at woods

edge hanging like tiny concord

grapes draped on entangled

vines, beckoned to be eaten.

Shug, friend played behind

family red-shingled house

stationed beside folks white

cement blocked cafe,

a pokeberry bush summoned

friend to eat bright berries

staining her teeth, mouth.

Everyone gathered, took

playmate to doctor,

pretty poison berries caused

nausea, pain, stomach sickness,

especially worse for such a little

girl, survived to not feast

such berries again…

Precious Got A Gun

Family maid, Annie, cleaned,

washed laundry, watched

third child Shug, Mama toiled

next door at family restaurant,

Daddy barbequed hogs in pit

weekends, worked weekly

at a military base.

One day little sugar plum

needed to relieve herself,

Annie scrubbed away in small,

narrow bathroom never

heard pee plead;

baby girl grabbed a rifle

stored behind bedroom door.

Shug barely able to hold the gun,

stood in bath doorway