LETTERS FROM HOME
The hand-written letters arrived
Each week in an envelope
Stuffed with neatly trimmed
Newspaper clippings,
Hometown stories of
People I knew, places I knew,
A reminder of family,
A reminder that roots existed,
Just as I was growing wings,
Filled with new ways
Of thinking,
New ways of being,
It was the 70’s,
A time for questioning things,
Much like now,
Much like every generation,
But the letters still arrived,
Knowing I needed a tether
So I didn’t go drifting off
Inflated by all my heady thoughts,
It was many years before
The roots took hold
Somewhere deep
In my soul,
It might have been the day
I addressed a letter to my oldest son,
A gentle reminder
That roots can offer strength
When wings grow weary
From taking flight.
Photo by Rita Bourland: Letters from home – 1970’s
Just Poetry and Prose 
Now this brings back memories. Well done!
Thank you. It was interesting to reread the letters as well!
Dear Rita, This poem reminds me of all the letters Mom sent us, thank you for describing it
so well. I think we do the same with our children, but in different ways, you with your prose, Marti with her pictures and I try to capture the feeling of home in my songs. Keep on writing.
Norbert
You are so right, Norb, we have our own ways of connecting with our children. We may not stuff an envelope with newspaper clippings but there are other ways to say ‘I love you’ and ‘I care’.