#caroline poems on Hello Poetry

You've Been Timetabled Mar 2

~
March 2024
HP Poet: Caroline Shank
Age: 77
Country: USA

Question 1: A warm welcome to the HP Spotlight, Caroline. Please tell us about your background?

Caroline Shank: "I am 77 and I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When I worked for Barnes and Nobel for ten years, customers asked me frequently for suggestions. I believe 'The Alexandria Quartet' by Lawrence Durrell is a serious contender for best prose fiction which has been written. Also 'The English Patient' by Michael Ondaatje is such a teaching tool on how to write the greatest novel ever written. I digress."

Question 2: How long have you been writing poetry, and for how long have you been a member of Hello Poetry?

Caroline Shank: "I have been writing poetry since the adolescent striving of the very lonely. I am not sure how long I have been posting to Hello Poetry. At least 3 years, or maybe 5?"

Question 3: What inspires you? (In other words, how does poetry happen for you).

Caroline Shank: "The unusual image will send me running for pen and paper. Usually what inspires the senses: a wind, an odor or perfume. I still remember my love affair with Chloe perfume. And! English Leather! Those were the days. Great sadness or anger will send me to my laptop but those poems do not usually survive."

Question 4: What does poetry mean to you?

Caroline Shank: "Poetry means that I have a place in a wonderful place. Once in awhile."

Question 5: Who are your favorite poets?

Caroline Shank: "My favorite poet's are: T. S. Eliot, Rainer Maria Rilke (the Stephen Mitchell translations), E. E. Cummings. I am a fan of Sara Teasdale's, her From the Sea is amazing. I save Shakespeare for the best nuggets ever. Anna Peters, her “I Am Not a Gentle Person” is a tour'd if ever. I love the poetry that is a much needed relief from The Civil War. Especially Lorena. I guess that's a song. Only one poem of Ezra Pound's, The Metro. It is a graduate course in image exploration."

Question 6: What other interests do you have?

Caroline Shank: "I used to be a huge consumer of books. I read all the time. I find that at my age I can't keep reading without finding something else to do."

Carlo C. Gomez: “We wish to thank you for giving us this opportunity to get to know the person behind the poet, Caroline! We are honored to add you to this series!”

Caroline Shank: "Thank you, Carlo! I am very grateful for all the encouragement you have given me."

Thank you everyone here at HP for taking the time to read this. We hope you enjoyed coming to know Caroline a little bit better. I surely did. It is our wish that these spotlights are helping everyone to further discover and appreciate their fellow poets. – Carlo C. Gomez

We will post Spotlight #14 in April!

~

Below are some of my favorite poems of Caroline's and links to each one:

If You Kiss Me:
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4450803/if-you-kiss-me/

If I Come to You:
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4695875/if-i-come-to-you/

Tango:
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4466022/tango/

You Placed a Flower:
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4527677/you-placed-a-flower/

It's Quiet Now:
https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4711725/its-quiet-now/

#hellopoetry #spotlight #interview #series #2024 #poet #caroline #shank #timetabled

Mr and Mrs Andrews Jun 2023

2 Times lover

Billy Wynne lover.
Best baseball pitcher ever
field of dreams 72 clever
And me Mestizo wife
Within your theme songs
Vera-cruz.
~
Shaks restaurant-Cashier job:
You ate and came to me to pay.
you asked me to walk by the ocean
Your eyes glared so sea-sky blue
Tallest Knight with magical hands.
You didn't say you had a wife
and I didn't ask!.
"Sweet Caroline song blasted
on your radio cassette player
an" The great Pretender,*
all night long.
smooth passionate fallen Angel
Long thick gentle inside
I couldn't climb mountains
Americans seldom chose Mestizo
Women for a wife
this thought froze me iced still.
~
Thereafter,
over a grand dinner table
by the lovers seashores
I simply asked you for your seed
you said;
You don't want to hurt me
you were a married man
and had a child.
You sounded blue
by your inability
to see it simply otherwise.
A happier easier scenario
two wives not just one.
That was me.
Thanks for sharing your
wedding vous famed
theme songs to honor me too.
Our passionate
love making nights
and for calling me wife
a few bittersweet day,-nights.
I forever missed you and
Loved meeting you.
Wished you all the best.
~~~~
I did meet the love of my life
We fell in love at first sight
an American like you
An elite chose me to change Earth
My once upon a time King of hearts
Due to abandonment syndrome
I let him go regretting it forever.
My billionaire loving mind
keeps me sane and safe
My Psalm 109.
~~~~
By: Mr. and Mrs. Andrews.
Honoring Karijinbba

https://youtu.be/utBKv9ZMojM

#sweet #caroline #the #great #pretender #veracruz #billy #won #gin #beloved

JJ McCoy Dec 2019

Carolina

How could you know?
How did you take
All the right parts
Kind, gentle, and sweet

What did you learn?
What made you able
The first time you tried
To make our lives complete

When did you know?
When did the stars
So neatly align
To bring wonder into our world

Why is it us?
Why did the heavens
Choose people like we
To parent our precious girl

For my daughter

#love #daughter #caroline #carolina #sweet #baby #girl

HD May 2019

S.D. (Summery Demure)

All my life I’ve never been quite sure,
Rused by the perpetually eclipsing penumbral blur,
Until I met a chouette with a heart so pure,
Wherein winter’s eve could emulate a Summery Demure.

#caroline

Venjencie Clifton Arnold Apr 2018

"Miss Caroline"

"MISS CAROLINE"
Humanity is rare,
in this world today,
        loyalty is bare,
just listen to what
              people say! Most people seem soulless,
hearts callous.
In the woods is where, I
find renewing of my mind
                                        and
                                      spirit.
When I venture out,
I take one that is loyal,
                        trustworthy
                                 and
                                kind.
It doesn't fit well with
me that as an animal
                   she is defined.
My Miss Caroline has
more compassion
than these humans
     passing through.
She could teach the human
race; all about true humanity with
grace.
So when you've lost your way
and your head is filled with the
world's noise, then don't forget
to return to that peaceful
place with a friend...
more human than the human
race.
A friend like mine
that is loyal
until the end of time.

When i venture out,
I take one that is
loyal, trustworthy
& kind.
It doesn't fit well with me
that as an animal she's defined. ~SacredInkedBlood©

True story. My lab, Miss Caroline. Where has humanity gone to in most of our human race today?

#life #love #friendship #society #venjenciearnold #sad #betrayal #caroline #feelings #dogs

michael capozzi Mar 2016

elle a besoin d'une calculatrice d'or pour diviser

she drank slow but had this skip in her dance.
she ordered me a gin and tonic on the rocks.
she eyed me across the street (i’m losing track of time).
she marched in front of me, leading me
to an apartment. the walls were painted black and the
lights were a shade of blue rain.
there were two floors in the penthouse.
she giggled when i told her how nervous i was.
i felt my glass shake, this mixture of pale ale and oranges
resembled a tsunami.
my eyes convulsed like cracked sidewalks during
earthquakes; my teeth were grinding, (not like a dance to ******
but rather the last lick of hope for the protagonist
in slasher flicks screaming for help).
she told me everything would be okay.
she undressed herself and told me god doesn’t
watch her when she sleeps; rather, he
takes the night off and works overtime in the morning.

i fell in love on the second floor of her apartment,
i don’t know why it took me two stories to tell her.

rough translation: she needs a golden calculator to divide.
she tweeted about how math made her happy and i fell in love so hard

#love #sad #rap #her #nostalgia #french #irony #caroline

Imran Raza Sep 2015

No more child but acting childish

At the 50 +
An old lot
coming from the monotonic ringing melody of Graham Bell's

gone the days of childhood , adolescence and to breath sighs !ah the kisses for her lips and eyes to watch as she walked on pedestrian , how often she moves her curvy hips ,

What's ahead !anytime anywhere , even this very  moment clocks could be locked always tightening the noose around , Death that only clips ,we're acting childish in our shells ,

In a trance kept lone , social gaining kilos of fats and accumulating distances  !  Ah though miles we're apart but isolated and in love , dancing  rhythmic on keys and board of Dell's ,

what's to hide how much we seek the harmony we lost in quest unreached as ever asking where the soul dwells ,

All exit reveals in each of thyself opened are the many hells

we are no more child but to act childish whenever in love , only  it tells ,

#caroline

Leigh May 2015

Dear Caroline

Pictures of your tubes and a wooden cross
Engraved is all I know of you.
I wasn't yet a thought when perhaps you wrapped a
Tiny hand 'round a trembling finger to feel a beat,
Or when maybe you cried just enough for everyone
Who kissed your little head.
I sidestepped all of your goings on and the grief
By a few years, but I will always miss you.

I will miss our bond.
You didn't stay long enough to grow into your mannerisms,
But I wonder what we could have shared.
Would you have been funny or serious?
Together or scattered?
Happy?

Somehow you've always been there for me.
You listened when I didn't know anyone else
Would and your flowers became my sanctuary.
Maybe you would kick my *** for
Being so uselessly sentimental,
And maybe you wouldn't.

It gets cold here, but you know that;
I hope you rest easy in your little garden,
Fit for a princess.

#death #loss #thoughts #you #dear #bond #sanctuary #sibling #caroline

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