Here are a couple of my poetic dedications after I concluded my family tree studies which I published as chapbooks for my immediate family interest.These two relate to my maternal side.
BUCKINGAM LACE
Sussanah,my great grandma,times three,
a pillow puffed up on her knee;with daughter
Ann in cobbled Cowfair,daily shaped their
homespun ware.In such humble women,dwelt
a rare and dextrous art.Fashioned out,stitch by
stitch,pillowed patterns ,so rich.Tinkling bobbins ,
bewildering skill,inch by inch grew the intricate
frill.Twisting threads in pairs and groups,knitted
together as interlocking loops.Their town craft
then, of world renown .Plain or old point hand
made lace,lost foever with no longer a trace
COWFAIR TO ANCHORAGE
We left our abode in old Cowfair,haggled
a price for an old shire mare.Onto the
landlord's canal boat,lock stock and barrel
for a life afloat.Farewell to our Buckingham
birthplace ,a meagre living from old point
lace.Dawdled up to Cosgrove, meals around
a blackened stove.This moveable house
painted castle and rose, a life we would not
have chose.Eighteen fifties harsh and mean,
cargo of coal, nothing stayed clean.Doff your
cap,touch your forelock at the gatekeeper's lock.
Food scarce except for or fish,perch , roach a
staple dish.Clothes drying on a line,home for a time
whilst the toddlers were young.As numbers increased
and grew ,places to sleep, all too few.Family life
became impossibly hard ,so back again to a
tied cottage in Aylesbury's Anchorage yard.
Whats the big deal about lineage some may say , we now live in the global village ( as a glance at PS so clearly reveals)?
As Frank's blog (* note subsequently deleted after I posted this blog )showed ,notwithstanding this digital global aspect historic cultural aspects need to be preserved and honoured .(especially by those of a poetic inclination)
For example one of the reasons for 'Brexit ' in England this year was the remembrance of the struggles of our very immediate family( great grandparents etc) to obtain enfranchisement from the English ruling classes(and all that means to daily life) AND once obtained can never be given away without our prior consent.Its called ' power to the people' and is the basis of true democracy .
My poems from spring 2016 'People Power ' & O ENGLAND a lament shows poetically this cultural viewpoint.