Vox Populi
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Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: An Open Thank You Letter to Kristen Who Works at the Cemetery
Her smile was clear sky, was green grass, was slender stream of waterfall. Her smile said, You are welcome here. Her smile said, You are not alone. She waved to me as I climbed the hill to sit by the grave of my son and she offered to water the flowers I’d brought from the garden. Her offer was pink snapdragon, was orange marigold, was golden calendula. Her offer said, There are some things we can do. Her offer said, I see you. Thank you, I said. Thank you for taking care of this place. I looked around at the trim lawn, the lovely, well-cared for space where we bring our dead. She shrugged and smiled and said, We love Finn, and backed away, her right hand pressed to her heart, her eyes embracing mine. There are moments so flooded with tenderness every wall around our heart collapses from the beauty of it, and we are left wet and trembling, like newborns. There are moments when we are so naked love enters us completely, shakes us from within and wrecks us, and there, in the rubble of our defenses we fall so deeply in love with life, with the goodness of people, we are remade. When I left, she blew me a kiss. I caught it. Twelve hours later, I still cradle that kiss in my hand.
Copyright 2023 Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer co-hosts the Emerging Form podcast on creative process, Secret Agents of Change (a surreptitious kindness cabal) and Soul Writer’s Circle. Her next collection, All the Honey, comes out in April, 2023.
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What a beautiful poem. Those small kindnesses, the gift of being seen.
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Yes, Rosemerry has a special vision.
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such a gift to be seen–especially by such a tender heart as Kristen was/is …
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What an amazing moment. The thing is, I always think, is: “How easy is it just to be kind?” God bless Kristen for living that and God bless Rosemerry for capturing it so eloquently!
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So beautiful–“How easy is it just to be kind?” And what a difference it can make. I love that framing, Karen.
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A Question
How can we be Kristens in this world
Always looking for those climbing their
own Individual hills
Needing soft spaces, smiles,
and watering for our parched hearts
Freely offering healing
mending our brokenness
A Second question
Rosemerry
How do you capture the beauty and pain of life in words that that speak for us what we cannot.
Thank you.
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Thank you for your beautiful words.
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Thank you, friend, for your kind and creative words … I am so grateful for the Kristens of the world, too …
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Thank you for your gift, Rosemerry
Though it is not in the package.
Not under the foil wrapping
and curled ribbon.
Not even inside the box.
Your gift is in the opening itself.
Gently tapping on my shell,
and then breaking me wide open.
How can you do that
in five short paragraphs?
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Thank you!
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the gift is in the opening itself–such a beautiful way to say it! I so so agree!
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Love in action ❤️
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So true–it was such a beautiful, clear example of what love looks like when embodied and acted on. ❤️
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Yes, Rosemerry is a national treasure.
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Oh, that we could be fully and always surrounded by Kristens in this life.
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Oh, yes. Thank you!
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Yes–and oh, to be a Kristen in this life! What a hero of the heart she became for me in that moment. ❤️
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Oh, wow! That’s such a LOVELY poem, I can feel that kiss. Thank you. You made my day!
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Thanks, Rose Mary. I agree!
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Thank you, Rose Mary! Yes, it was so lovely, that moment–how it lingers in me.
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