Enthusiastically, Dawn

Forever loved, remembered daily.

This morning I woke up to the date which marks the second anniversary of our daughter Katherine’s death. How is it that such a date can be spoken of as an anniversary? This I cannot answer, but only acknowledge. And as I sat wondering what I wanted to do in the many ways I want to acknowledge both her living and dying, I decided to take out the poem that still is fresh in my heart and mind. Though I wrote a new poem this morning both for and to my girl, it is yet too raw, too tender to share today…

Instead, I am sharing a poem I wrote in 2015, which comes to my mind now and again. Though I have written many poems, and prose about and for my daughter, I think this is one of my favorites, if not my very favorite. I made some revisions, as I often do. Not so much the content but more the structure and also one line in particular, as I felt it needed some clarity. It’s actually the line about the nine-year-old girl killed in her own home (.Jamyla Bolden of Ferguson, MO)- I felt it was too vague and in time might lose its meaning. This event so struck me at the time of writing- it exemplified and magnified the challenge we all face in acknowledging the heartbreaking, hard realities and injustices of life.