JANE FITZGERALD
Author Feature - May 2020
Poetry has been my passion since childhood. I am a sensitive and enthusiast writer who explores feelings about people, nature and time. I do not live to write, but can not live without writing. It was my good fortune to study poetry with David Ignatow at Co lumbia University where I earned a Master of Arts Degree. One of the most interesting and rewarding experiences in my life was being an exchange student on a farm in Denmark. I am still close to the family and have seen them often over the
years. I have written many poems about this experience which opened new doors on my perspective of life.
As a young mother of two children I would often stay up late at night writing poetry, a habit that has persisted until this day many years later. When the children went to school I taught elementary and middle school and created an American Colonial History Curriculum for the fifth grade.
In retirement I taught ESL to Guatemalan immigrants. I have an adopted grandchild from Guatemala, plus five others. My four books are on Amazon under Jane H Fitzgerald. My latest book, Notes From the Undaunted, is the most meaningful to me . The description explains why. The man in the book is my husband. This is a serious topic, but cancer affects so many people that the book has had a positive response. I am grateful if my writing can help others not to feel alone in their struggles.

AVAILABLE BOOK

FEATURED POETRY
VANTAGE POINT
He's a solitary silhouette
on a windswept point
Weighted by the crucible
of an illness like a howling tempest
The roiling sea and craggy boulders
are like vivid images of his inner self
Rough paintings of a rugged path
Blind fate has thrust upon him
He stands alone unflinching
Braced against the gusting gale
Divining his destiny
THE ER
It's the morning before Christmas We
are frantically racing to the ER A
white coat settles us in a tiny cubicle
Adjacent to a criminal in shackles
guarded by two laconic policeman
In haste we had abandoned
a colorful holiday table
Never to be graced by guests
It could be any day in the ER
For us it was to have been
A celebration of togetherness
Instead it's tubes and beeps
Waiting, endless waiting
Can they bring us back from the edge
Did we notify all the guests
Did we turn the oven off
The chained man is escorted
By an armed blue suit
for a bathroom break
We are held tightly captive by
One plastic bag after another
Dripping drops of hope toward
Another phantom holiday
Fate suspended from a pole
Results slowing emerging
The agony of not knowing
Did we lock the front door
Is the dog in her
crate
Will the IV revive or drown
us Did we turn the TV off
What will the guests do
Their planned day is empty
Ours is full of excruciating
anxiety Emanating like static from
a radio Pulsating in the cubicle
Flooding the sterile shiny halls
The grim man is unshackled
Discharge papers in hand
We are finally let go,
released But not to freedom
The test results command
Return in two days
The ER is waiting
THE INVADER
The sun rose glowing once
again The newspapers arrived
on time The comforting smell of
coffee
Floated through the rooms
All was right with the world
When without warning
A warring Invader
Entered our souls and
bodies Unwilling to
acknowledge it We
attempted ignorance Its
persistent presence
Pounded our minds
No mountain of wishing
Could expel this evil
stranger Its strength and
malignancy Forced us to
struggle
We were exposed
Brutally vulnerable as if
Chained at gunpoint or
Lost on a shrouded battlefield
Our days transformed into an
unending contest
Against a virulent enemy within
Hope was like reaching for a star
Our mornings rose with sorrow
Our evenings faded in fear Life
will never, ever again Be the
simple enjoyment of just
mornings with
the radiant sunrise
coffee
and
newspapers
SURVIVAL
Time is impartial
It just happens
Events are random
They strike without warning
It's our reactions
That determine the day
Can we handle the
Success or disappointment
Are we the oak or the willow
An organism is only as
healthy as its ability to change
to endure, persevere
That's survival
That's what we face
Moment by moment
With or without
Consciousness
Until the earth
Marks its claim