This book is a compilation of my poems since I was a little girl. In 1982, as a fifth grader, my Mother encouraged me to write in a journal. As an English teacher she always emphasized writing and I was able to use my poems, stories and essays as an outlet for my feelings. These poems are precious, personal and they are expressions of me. I was told it was time to share them.
Poems from a Journey to Womanhood: The Sections, Unicorns, Hearts and Money and Butterflies appropriately describe where I am poetically during the depicted time in my life. Go with me on a trip from being a little girl to a teenager who thought she was a woman and who thought she knew everything. This literary journey of poems starts with me telling my dear Grandmother that she is my best friend. One of the poems confesses my love to my unborn child who is now a man. These poems chronicle my relationships with teenage boyfriends and also my marriages with men whom I loved and hated… Read on as I reveal the deep friendship and spiritual bond I shared with the powerful “Man of God.” Finally, the last essay expresses my joy and sense of relief after finally having my doctoral dissertation approved!
What a journey… This project is a labor of love, of smiles, of fear and of tears that spans a period of over 25 years. Enjoy this time as you travel with me on this, “Journey to Womanhood: Poems from a Girl Grown –up to Soon.”
Excerpt
I’m In Love with a Chicken…But, I AM an Eagle by Nicole M. Ford-Francis
December 19, 2011
I’m in Love with a Chicken, but, I am an Eagle…
I can fly to great heights, but, my Chicken can’t fly.
I would often take off in flight but, he would never come.
He was afraid of heights and didn’t believe he could learn to fly…
I would offer to carry him up, but expected that he would himself, learn to fly…
But, he never did…
When my wings got tired, I would visit him on the ground as he scratched the dirt… looking for bugs and worms…
I would tolerate the dust and the bad air, because I wanted to spent time…with “my Chicken”,
But, worms and bugs weren’t in my regular diet so I would have to seek higher ground and once again took flight…
Offering him another trip in flight but, demanding that he learn to fly with me.
My Chicken was proud and he began to say he hated the clean air and the beautiful view on the tall hills that I would often visit…
In fact, he even said he hated Eagles…like me; and that they thought that they were better than ALL the other birds.
That wasn’t true because Eagles want to see other birds fly…like them.
So my Chicken chose the ground with its dust and sand.
He offered me a lifetime in the dirt with him. (How sweet).
But, he never would fly or even try and my lungs could no longer stand inhaling the dust that he enjoyed pecking and playing around in.
Every once in a while he would find a snail among the bugs and worms.
Funny… he thought that I would enjoy those snails.
But, I was accustomed to much bigger prey that could only be seized or even seen during flight.
Well, I’m still in-love with that Chicken but, I have resumed flight!
Now, seeing other Eagles who fly like me…
Other Eagles who crave the view from the tall mountain tops and those who can see the cloud’s silver lining up close…like me.
Now, I can be the Eagle I am even though I am often visited by the memory of my Chicken.
I just can’t go back to a diet of worms and an occasional snail.
But…I’m still in love with that Chicken who has now upgraded to a diet of lake trout sandwiches and chicken boxes.
Maybe I could eat that…???
Or maybe he will finally try to fly…
What do you think?
I know… I know…
He will probably never fly.
But, I still love my Chicken…
