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Community Poem – Written on Memorial Day, 2023

Community Poem/Altar/Ofrenda

Photo by Bre McGee for Uncommon Collaborative.

As long as we remember you, you live on.

Caribou Lake, lilacs, oak trees remind me of you.

Never send for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee

I Love You more, Mom and Dad, now that you’re gone.
Cathy, I still miss you and you are still in my heart, always.

Family sports,
family cabin.

Loving kids.
Italian wedding soup.
Biking.

Potatoes for Alex.

Stray dogs for Jay.

7-Up and ice cream sandwiches for my grandpa, Dale.

Loving Fluff taught me the value of loving all God’s creatures.
All are precious in His sight.

You left us way too soon, Margaret.
We had no idea how many
lives you had touched.

The love of his wife and family—I love you, Daddy, L.B. Steward—from your loving daughter, Angelia.

Putting others before self and taking care of family.
You were my inspiration to endure without complaint
and always love.
I love you, my dear sister Jacquie—Big Sis Angie.

I miss you so much. You were right. You had insight.

Thank you, Phyllis and Gail Harms, for inspiring me to keep learning & to travel & for making faith our strength.

Love to Lillian & Paul, George & Ebba for your service in WWII.

Your fight was for freedom and equal rights. Your fierce fight
for love is not forgotten, nor are you.

You were needed all over, every which way, AND
missed F O R E V E R.

Thank you for all the love you shared. Grateful and blessed
FOR YOU, always missed and remembered.
Mom got a real GEM…

Judy and I came to Lakewood
to discover relatives in some|
distance.
They were hard to find.

She died in March, in Maryland, in her bed,
and my heart emptied of her
when she became a distant dead relative
whose foibles came too close to
the surface. Death did not make her a
saint.
It doesn’t. It cannot.

Grandpa’s cigar and family photo,
Grandma’s broom and plum pierogi.

Dear Dennis,
I would leave ice cream for you,
but it would melt.

 

Community Poem/Altar/Ofrenda
Lakewood Cemetery Memorial Day Celebration
May 29, 2023

Thank you to COMPAS teaching artist Zoë Bird, who guided Lakewood guests through creating this community poem.

 

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