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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Imaginary Toads: it's all about me

“Kay” is a female name of Greek origin meaning “pure”. This is not an auspicious start to writing a poem in response to Laurie’s poetry challenge at Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads but I promised myself I'd try.
A talented photographer whose work I admire, Dimple of Meditations of my Heart, has passed The Versatile Blogger award on to me (and to 14 other people, I must admit, lest “versatile” go to my head).
One of the “rules” for this award is to tell you seven things about me. The other rule is to pass the award on to 15 other people, but I always break half the rules I run across (one thing about me), so I won’t pass it on for fear of upsetting any of my blogging friends.
Now then, here is my submission to Laurie's
Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads name/meaning poetry challenge, and it is all true stuff (I don’t lie, another thing about me).
*
KAY AND SOME THINGS ABOUT HER YOUTH
My name, they say, came from the Greeks,
Marginally better than geeks,
If asked, there is one thing for sure,
I would not have said it meant “pure”!
A child, I was humble and sweet
But just couldn’t keep my room neat.
In school I was meant to do well,
And did — until they rang the bell.
(If girls are not to hit others —
Why do they have little brothers?)
I was no good in games or sports
But usually got good reports.
In French as well as in English,
My poems always were jinglish,
But science and dream-minded I
Never did quite see eye to eye.
So my marks were always quite swell
In writing and things I knew well,
But I graduated from maths
With 51, just for a pass.
My family told me, “Honey,
For UBC there's no money.”
They said, “Though you have potential,
Scholarships would be essential,
And because you didn’t get those,
(Due to mathematical woes
Rather than you being a jerk)
You might have to go out to work.” 
*
I’m writing this because I’ve been thinking about my husband, who graduated from McGill University in Montreal, and retired early from a successful teaching career (his former students friend him on Facebook, so I take that to mean success) and began, instead, selling Registered Education Savings Plans to parents in Alberta, to help make sure this doesn’t happen to children, with or without potential.
He made the move from teaching to RESPs long before he met me, but this is one of the reasons I love him. (Count that as a thing about me, or a thing about Dick, or both.)
I did manage to round myself up some years' worth of university-level credits before settling into a nicely-remunerated living as a newspaper compositor (another thing about me), so please don't think my life has been lived under a bridge. While the University of BC was the only choice for post-secondary education in British Columbia when I was in high school, as soon as I graduated we moved to the west coast where colleges and new universities were being opened, and I availed myself of them when I could.
I’ve also been thinking about my youth because Real Toads member Sherry and I recently discovered, as the old joke goes, we went to different schools together. Born the same year, we grew up in the same city in the interior of BC, for a while in the same part of town, but attended and graduated from different schools. We have never met, except via blogging and e-mail. So, these are things she might have known if...

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Kay! I really enjoyed your poem too! Love the humour of it. Almost has a hip-hop/rap rhythm to it. (Maybe cuz I just came from a slam where I did non-slam stuff) Your life sounds a lot like mine.
But I live in Ontario, not B.C.

Carol A. Stephen
aka Quillfyre

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Whew! I'm glad to know you didn't have to live your life under a bridge. I don't do awards and almost never read these kind of posts -- lists of 'things about me' -- but you have made it unique -- showcasing your talent and originality. (And you did a darn good job at self-education1)

Kerry O'Connor said...

I enjoyed this light-hearted retrospective, and how interesting to find you and Sherry have much in common.

Powell River Books said...

And now I know a bit more about you as well. I share a lot of my current life on my blog, but not much of my past. This was fun for me to get to know you better. Maybe I should consider it for my blog (without the poetry of course). - Margy

ksdoolittle said...

Brilliant, Kay! Karen is in the same family, meaning pure, too. How about that? Loved your poem.

Ebie said...

Oh, Kay, you well deserve this award. Versatile and talented writer. This short poem tells me more of your inner self and talent.
Congratulations again!

We go to different schools, but we enjoy the same "blogging" hobby. Hope to meet you someday.

Ebie said...

Hi Kay, I am not sure if comment went thru, I will come back and check it out and write another comment if it did not go through.

Jenn Jilks said...

I loe it! Well done.

Vernz said...

ahhh.. it's great to know a little more about your life Kay.. thanks to internet.. I knew you too...

Have a great weekend :)

Vernz

Cezar and Léia said...

Dear Kay, thanks for so positive post, I'm enchanted by your words and you write very well! I love your name, it's adorable.It's so cool to know more about you.
wow MAth...I need to confess I'm nothing about it, maybe because I don't understand those numbers! LOL
But I love poems and I like yours poems a lot, you are very talented!
Congrats!
Léia

Leslie said...

hahaha i LOVE this! fave line:

("If girls are not to hit others —
Why do they have little brothers?)"

and you were ADORABLE! (still are)

Maude Lynn said...

(If girls are not to hit others —
Why do they have little brothers?)

That cracked me up!

Laurie Kolp said...

Kay~ A wonderful response to the prompt. You and I sound like we were quite alike!

One said...

Kay, Pure or not, I enjoy your poem. I guess that must be a picture of you. So sweet. I have one less finger to type today. Got bitten by my dog who was struggling as she was being bitten by a bigger dog.

You are such a fun person.

Your captions have been posted.

Mary Ann Potter said...

Fun to read! Rhyme and rhythm and humor all combined together! Isn't it wonderful to look back like this?

Dimple said...

Kay, I love your poems, they always make me smile. Also, I didn't count, but I suspect there are more than seven things about you in this post, so maybe you broke one rule, but you gave more than required of the other!

Ella said...

Interesting and we do find our way!
Thank you for sharing and I'm fascinated about you n' Sherry, how fun!