New Beginnings--New Hope--New Era

from the memoirs of Mary Rome Foster

January 20, 1993

written at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland

"New Beginnings--New Hope"  

               ...Inauguration Theme, Bill Clinton, 1993.

"Remarkable response."  The words are in my chart  

It's legal--we can really rejoice

The CT scans show no cancer activity in any other

       part of my body

And marked and significant reduction, both in number

     of tumors and in their size, in my lungs

We can really rejoice--I remain on taxol alone as an

     outpatient--will be treated today, return home

     tonight, back for my next cycle February 8 & 9

Inauguration Day!  It's most exciting being in 

     Washington on this historic day

The city is a-twitter and I can feel the excitement

     in the air

It's really quite electric in a subtle and sophisticated way

I do sense a caution in the cold, crisp January air

For today, in many places around the world

There is war and there is rumor of such

Madmen continue to roam and to hold the planet

     hostage at their will

Injustice everywhere abounds--hunger, fear, homelessness,

     anxiety, hopelessness--all forms of oppression

Yet, it's encouraging to watch a veritable parade of

     Americans from every segment of the society

Taking part in and being part of the new order

Presently, I sit next to an HIV-positive, full-blown

     AIDS patient

He played left defense, high school football, could

     bench press his weight

Now weighs 110 pounds (prob'ly soaking wet!)

He coughs and struggles and his only thoughts 

     are of the disease, with occasional lapse into 

     memories of football

He is oppressed and--he is one of the people

I pray he'll be allowed in the parade

Of course I've watched the Inauguration and

     the parade

And I've been moved by the number of times

     the word "hope" has appeared--in speech,

     in music, on posters

Hope--it's one of those elusive words

And it is the stuff of which life is made

Hope is available even in the midst of tragedy and trauma

     and it's usually evident in the lives of those

     who have it

It's late in the afternoon; it's been a perfectly gorgeous

     day in the nation's capital

The brilliant blue sky is beginning to soften as the

     pinks and purples of sunset move across the landscape

Lights are coming on and they add to the spectacular

     beauty as night descends

Strains of "God Bless America" and "America, the Beautiful" 

     pass through my sleepy mind

God bless doctors and nurses and research scientists

God bless Bobby and Sherry and Pam (my Columbia 

     oncology team)

God bless Charlie and Grace and Ron and Winnie

God bless Phillip, Roland and Gena, Carolyn, and Judy

God bless Jack, Gene and Jim, Kathy and Bernie

All these folk and countless host of others--

     they--we are America--we are in community 

     with the world

And so, tonight, even as the lights twinkle and the Capitol 

     and the Lincoln Memorial exude a deeply

     spiritual presence on this day of new beginnings

I celebrate new hope for myself, for my

     country, for my world

And I pray for for every individual who inhabits

     this planet

For we all touch whether we wish to or not

And we, each and all, in one way or another,

     determine the todays and tomorrows of

      one another

May we joyfully embrace the opportunity to be

     involved with living

New Beginnings--New Hope

Uh-hm-m-m.  Works for me

God Bless John and Matt and Mary Catherine and 

     Janis and Pat and... God bless...

Mom continues to teach me.  I always reflect on words that she spoke and sang, but just recently I have begun to clue in on her writing.  Whole volumes--personal essays, poems, theology projects--were dumped on me right after her death.  I wasn't able to read any of it at the time.  Just made me too sad, too angry.  She had written as a hobby her whole life.  Dad reminded me of this piece yesterday morning so I pulled it out and read it and several things leapt out.  

Obviously, it is poignant today, Inauguration Day, 2009, knowing where we have been and what all has unfolded since her hopeful poem.  Still, Mom would be delighted with America today like so many of us are.  She would insist that we get it right this time like so many of us do.  "No distractions.  No hubris.  Most importantly no vendetta.  Take nothing for granted.  But breathe in justice, and move forward," she would say.  She'll be singing "Amazing Grace" at the celebration for those of us who still hear her.  Listen for it.  

Less obvious to most readers is her experimentation with a form of poetry called oracular free verse, a verse form characterized by long, rambling lines channelled by the poet from some mystical or divine source; syntactical parallelism, repetition of sentence structure from line to line; cataloging, or listing; and hanging (or "reverse") indentation, used to delineate line length since paper-pages are only so wide.  Does she allude to Whitman at the end?  Walt Whitman, the American master of oracular free verse?  "I celebrate new hope for myself, for my country, for my world...For we all touch whether we wish to or not," she says, and Whitman: "I celebrate myself;/And what I assume you shall assume;/For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you."  

Could she?  I never knew.  I did not edit her piece at all except to correct her spelling of "innauguration."  She drafted it in her beautiful handwriting while she was hooked up to an IV pumping experimental God knows what into her veins.  She never revised it to my knowledge; it's just a draft.  As a Creative Writing teacher, I was impressed with her willingness to experiment with verse form and her knowledge and application of the appropriate poetic devices.  She was obviously researching and studying the art more than I realized.  A mountain girl from Madison County, NC who learned how to sing and made sure she got herself a good education.  No advanced degrees so she studied on her own.  Couldn't get the man to ordain her so she went straight to the Source.  She never quit growing, and she never quits growing.  

We're on the same plane of light this new day, Mama.  I love you.

--MJF