A mother’s life in poems
“Communion
Eyes look down.
Souls look up.”—Dodie Horne, Root &Plant &Bloom, Poems by Dodie Walton Horne, edited by Jennifer and Mary Horne, 2020, p. 104.
Dodie began writing poems as a child. She died suddenly in 1994, at the age of fifty-nine, from a brain tumor. Ironically, a woman who dearly loved words died of cancer in the part of her body where words are formed. Dodie’s daughters, Mary and Jennifer, collected around 370 of their mother’s poems, beautifully packaged and published them as a gift to us.
The book is organized into sections by subject, each introduced with lines from her poems. For example, “They Brought Me Spring” is about motherhood. “Life in Little Rock” explores younger adulthood and self-acceptance. The “Calendars and Clocks” section addresses time passing and aging. “The Questing Why” deals with religion and the spirit.
Dodie was a girlfriend, soulmate, and masseur who cared for my wounded body through many physical trials. I loved visiting her in her final home deep in the woods of Ferndale, but I was never sure each time if my car would make it down the winding, rough dirt road.
I visited Dodie while she was ill. I remember leaving magnolia branches in her room during our last visit in July. She never spoke, and she died soon after. I treasured the thought that the scent of magnolia filled her room and helped midwife her into God’s arms. I could not hold back tears at the synchronicity of Dodie’s last writing, “REAL LIFE,” that Jennifer and Mary left in the book.
— ‘REAL LIFE’ events are not necessarily events; this evening in July shows me that the magnolia candles have finished spreading their light and dropped to the ground, replaced by glowing lightning bugs and cool breezes. I look out at this scene and feel it with all my senses.
—And there would be, there is: writing—in itself an act of gratitude. ‘REAL LIFE’ goes on.” 1
As our large magnolia tree blooms near our house, I always think of Dodie and what she taught me.
Dodie couldn’t hold back her words of love and gratitude that she gave to so many people in her lifetime and even beyond.
1 p. 188.
Joanna Seibert https://www.joannaseibert.com/