Dear Amy

Today I completed the scrapbook I have been creating for Amy to celebrate the trip we took together to Chicago. It has been so much fun, and has called back so many things I love doing. This was a combination of photography, writing, and collaging.  For me, that is the perfect trifecta!

I wrote in many structures to add variety:

2 Nonet
7 Haiku
1 Diamante
1 Pyramid Mirror (made up!)
1 Tanka
1 Monostich ("Grant Park" -- the one that started it all, inspired by SIWC)
1 Acrostic
4 Six-word memoirs
1 Letter poem

The letter poem was the last one I wrote, and the one I thought about the most.  When it came time to write, it just flowed. I hand wrote it in the scrapbook, so I am typing it here for my keeping.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Exhibit at American Writers Museum

Dear Amy,

I will long remember our visit

to the American Writers Museum,

from the opening video, the waterfall

of words, the many exhibits,

the games to play, some fun shopping,

and being there with you.

From Mark Twain to Flannery O'Connor,

John Steinbeck to Gwendolyn Brooks,

the virtuosos of language, American

perspectives, the voice of a character

on a printed page, historical moments

and understanding grace, literature

of America gifts the world with

portraits of the human condition,

all felt and on display with energy

and immediacy on the second floor

of that building on South Michigan Avenue.

So glad we shared it together, sister

American writer.  Love, Helen